Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD) Versus GenBank Molecular Identification of a Dragonfly from the UAE in Comparison to the Morphological Identification

Noora Almansoori,Mohamed Rizk Enan,Mohammad Ali Al-Deeb

doi:10.3844/ojbsci.2019.237.244

Abstract

Dragonflies are insects in the order Odonata. They inhabit freshwater ecosystems and are found in the UAE. To date, few checklists have been published for the local dragonflies and the used identification keys are not comprehensive of Arabia. The aim of this study was to provide a molecular identification of a dragonfly based on the mitochondrial Cytochrome c Oxidase subunit I (COI) gene using the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) database and the Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD) in comparison with the morphology. The insect’s DNA was extracted and the PCR was performed on the target gene. The insect was identified initially as Anax imperator based on the NCBI database and as Anax parthenope based on the BOLD. However, the morphological identification was in agreement with the one produced by the BOLD. The results of this study is a demonstration of how, in some cases, the DNA-based identification does not provide a conclusive species designation and that a morphology-based identification is needed.

Highlights

The aim of this study was to provide a molecular identification of a dragonfly based on the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene using the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) and Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD) databases in comparison with the morphology
The primer pair used in this study amplified the target region of the c Oxidase subunit I (COI) gene and produced the expected single band (≈ 700 bp) on the agarose gel (Fig. 1)
The BOLD database showed 99.84% similarity with A. parthenope (Table 3) and the sequence appeared in a cluster of A. parthenope on the phylogenetic tree (Fig. 3)

Summary

Introduction

Odonates are characterized by having a large prognathic heads with large compound eyes, chewing mouthparts and setaceous antennae Their prothorax (wingless thoracic segment) is small and functions as a neck, while the mesothorax – and metathorax are fused into a large pterothoracic segment equipped with two pair of elongate wings (Abbott, 2009). Zygopterous forewing and hindwing are about the same size, while the Anisopterous hindwings are basally broader than the forewings and have different venation patterns near the base, which are very helpful in identification Their eyes usually touch on the top of the head (with the exception of the Petaluridae and Gomphidae) (Abbott, 2009). Their reproductive tract is on the underside of the eighth segment and is covered by an ovipositor (Paulson, 2011). Thanks to their densely-veined hemolymph containing wings, they can make sufficient aerodynamic forces by periodically flapping the wings (Hou et al, 2017)

Objectives

Methods

Results