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Species identification of Tanzanian antelopes using DNA barcoding
Author(s) -
BITANYI STELLA,
BJØRNSTAD GRO,
ERNEST EBLATE M.,
NESJE MARIT,
KUSILUKA LUGHANO J.,
KEYYU JULIUS D.,
MDEGELA ROBINSON H.,
RØED KNUT H.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
molecular ecology resources
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.96
H-Index - 136
eISSN - 1755-0998
pISSN - 1755-098X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1755-0998.2011.02980.x
Subject(s) - biology , dna barcoding , phylogenetic tree , mitochondrial dna , zoology , bovidae , evolutionary biology , ecology , gene , genetics
Efficient tools for consistent species identification are important in wildlife conservation as it can provide information on the levels of species exploitation and assist in solving forensic‐related problems. In this study, we evaluated the effectiveness of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) barcode in species identification of Tanzanian antelope species. A 470 base‐pair region of the COI gene was examined in 95 specimens representing 20 species of antelopes, buffalo and domestic Bovidae . All the Tanzanian species showed unique clades, and sequence divergence within species was <1%, whereas divergence between species ranged from 6.3% to 22%. Lowest interspecific divergence was noted within the Tragelaphus genus. Neighbour‐joining phylogenetic analyses demonstrated that the examined COI region provided correct and highly supported species clustering using short fragments down to 100 base‐pair lengths. This study demonstrates that even short COI fragments can efficiently identify antelope species, thus demonstrating its high potential for use in wildlife conservation activities.