Abstract
The polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) technique was used to identify 3 species in the genus Opisthonema (Opisthonema bulleri, Opisthonema medirastre, and Opisthonema libertate) in the southern Gulf of California. Two specific primer pairs were designed to amplify the COI mitochondrial gene and 3 restriction enzymes (HpaII, RsaI, and AvaII) were selected to compare the RFLP patterns among the species. Different polymorphism levels were detected among samples. Easily analyzed specific restriction profiles were created, which differentiated unequivocally among the 3 target species. The approach undertaken here using PCR-RFLP is relatively cheap, fast, and robust, providing a useful technique for the identification of species in the genus Opisthonema.
Highlights
Fisheries statistics in Mexico do not report catches by species, as identification based on morphological characteristics is difficult, and catches are recorded as Pacific thread herring (Opisthonema spp.) (Jacob-Cervantes 2010)
Pérez-Quiñónez et al (2017) used a geometric morphometric analysis and mitochondrial DNA cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) gene sequences to describe the particular characteristics of each Pacific thread herring species; this study validated for the first time the existence of the 3 taxonomic entities using genetic data
The polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method allows the identification of species based on products created by DNA digestion using restriction enzymes (Guan et al 2018)
Summary
Pérez-Quiñónez et al (2017) used a geometric morphometric analysis and mitochondrial DNA cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) gene sequences to describe the particular characteristics of each Pacific thread herring species; this study validated for the first time the existence of the 3 taxonomic entities using genetic data. Genetic techniques are very useful when morphological information alone does not provide sufficient diagnostic characteristics for species identification or when only part of the organism is recovered (García-Rodríguez et al 2008, Lampa et al 2015, Pérez-Quiñónez et al 2017). The polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method allows the identification of species based on products created by DNA digestion using restriction enzymes (Guan et al 2018). This method has the advantage of being fast, simple, robust, and relatively cheaper than the sequencing method, and it has been applied for different purposes, for example, for the identification of organisms in the larval stage or for seafood traceability (García-Rodríguez et al 2008, Ferrito et al 2019). The aim was to provide a quick, effective, and cheap tool to contribute to a better evaluation of this fishery resource that has great relevance in Mexico
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