DNA barcoding, phylogenetic study of<i style=""> Epinephelus spp.</i> from Andaman coastal region, India

Abstract

Present study was carried out for identification of the <i style="">Epinephelus spp</i>. present in Andaman coastal region by bar coding technique and also by other conventional methods to understand the significance of its distribution.<i style=""> </i>DNA sequences of cytochrome C oxidase I gene (COI) of <i style="">Epinephelus </i>spp. were employed to test efficiency of species identification. Study was designed to evaluate mean genetic distances using the Kimura two Parameters (K2P) between the studied <i style="">Epinephelus spp </i>fishes of Andaman coastal region and the same species from world over were analysed. <i style="">Epinephelus </i>spp. shows genetic divergences among <i style="">Epinephelus longispinis</i>, <i style="">Epinephelus ongus</i> and <i style="">Epinephelus areolatus,</i> respectively, 0.0004, 0.0183 and 0.0437. DNA barcoding may be useful in bringing out the evolutionary relatedness between different species. Mitochondrial COI data has an advantage over an individual dataset because of its higher resolving power.