Analysis of mitochondrial DNA by restriction endonucleases to distinguish three species of ariid catfish from the arabian gulf

Abstract

We have been able to distinguish between three different species of catfish by comparing the cleavage pattern of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) obtained using three different restriction endonucleases. Our data also allowed us to estimate the size of catfish mtDNA at around 17 kb for each species. Although the mtDNA used was obtained from pooled livers of catfish, the digestion patterns with each restriction endonuclease were rather homogeneous, indicating that intraspecies variation is possibly very low in the catfish species studied.