TY - JOUR
T1 - DNA barcodes for globally threatened marine turtles
T2 - A registry approach to documenting biodiversity
AU - Naro-Maciel, Eugenia
AU - Reid, Brendan
AU - Fitzsimmons, Nancy N.
AU - Le, Minh
AU - Desalle, Rob
AU - Amato, George
PY - 2010/3
Y1 - 2010/3
N2 - DNA barcoding is a global initiative that provides a standardized and efficient tool to catalogue and inventory biodiversity, with significant conservation applications. Despite progress across taxonomic realms, globally threatened marine turtles remain underrepresented in this effort. To obtain DNA barcodes of marine turtles, we sequenced a segment of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene from all seven species in the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean basins (815 bp; n = 80). To further investigate intraspecific variation, we sequenced green turtles (Chelonia mydas) from nine additional Atlantic/Mediterranean nesting areas (n = 164) and from the Eastern Pacific (n = 5). We established character-based DNA barcodes for each species using unique combinations of character states at 76 nucleotide positions. We found that no haplotypes were shared among species and the mean of interspecific variation ranged from 1.68% to 13.0%, and the mean of intraspecific variability was relatively low (0-0.90%). The Eastern Pacific green turtle sequence was identical to an Australian haplotype, suggesting that this marker is not appropriate for identifying these phenotypically distinguishable populations. Analysis of COI revealed a north-south gradient in green turtles of Western Atlantic/Mediterranean nesting areas, supporting a hypothesis of recent dispersal from near equatorial glacial refugia. DNA barcoding of marine turtles is a powerful tool for species identification and wildlife forensics, which also provides complementary data for conservation genetic research.
AB - DNA barcoding is a global initiative that provides a standardized and efficient tool to catalogue and inventory biodiversity, with significant conservation applications. Despite progress across taxonomic realms, globally threatened marine turtles remain underrepresented in this effort. To obtain DNA barcodes of marine turtles, we sequenced a segment of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene from all seven species in the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean basins (815 bp; n = 80). To further investigate intraspecific variation, we sequenced green turtles (Chelonia mydas) from nine additional Atlantic/Mediterranean nesting areas (n = 164) and from the Eastern Pacific (n = 5). We established character-based DNA barcodes for each species using unique combinations of character states at 76 nucleotide positions. We found that no haplotypes were shared among species and the mean of interspecific variation ranged from 1.68% to 13.0%, and the mean of intraspecific variability was relatively low (0-0.90%). The Eastern Pacific green turtle sequence was identical to an Australian haplotype, suggesting that this marker is not appropriate for identifying these phenotypically distinguishable populations. Analysis of COI revealed a north-south gradient in green turtles of Western Atlantic/Mediterranean nesting areas, supporting a hypothesis of recent dispersal from near equatorial glacial refugia. DNA barcoding of marine turtles is a powerful tool for species identification and wildlife forensics, which also provides complementary data for conservation genetic research.
KW - COI
KW - Chelonia mydas
KW - DNA barcoding
KW - MtDNA
KW - Sea turtle
KW - Species identification
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=77949337275&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1111/j.1755-0998.2009.02747.x
DO - 10.1111/j.1755-0998.2009.02747.x
M3 - Article
C2 - 21565020
AN - SCOPUS:77949337275
SN - 1755-098X
VL - 10
SP - 252
EP - 263
JO - Molecular Ecology Resources
JF - Molecular Ecology Resources
IS - 2
ER -