Abstract
Exploring the effectiveness of DNA barcoding in species identification is a prerequisite for biodiversity conservation and environmental monitoring. Aquatic oligochaetes could serve as excellent indicators in aquatic monitoring programmes. However, few studies have examined the effectiveness of DNA barcoding in these specific organisms. The mitochondrial cytochrome C oxidase (COI) gene of 83 specimens belonging to 40 species of 18 genera were sequenced in this study. The results showed that there was a barcode gap between species of Naididae and the intraspecific genetic distances of each species were smaller than interspecific genetic distances. The classification results of ABGD (Automatic Barcode Gap Discovery) were consistent with those of morphological identification, except for Tubifextubifex and Lumbriculusvariegatus. All species were successfully distinguished in the phylogenetic tree, based on the ITS2 region, which was coincident with the morphological result. Our results provided evidence that DNA barcoding can be used as an effective and convenient tool for species identification of the family Naididae and even for other aquatic oligochaetes.
Highlights
The family Naididae, as the most diverse family within the class Oligochaeta, includes more than 1,100 valid species (Timm 2017)
We aim to explore the accuracy of DNA barcoding technology for the species identification and to construct a bio-identification system for Naididae
Ten of them were acquired for the first time, including Tubifex laxus Peng, Wang & Cui, 2017; T. conicus He, Wang & Cui, 2012; Isochaetides palmatus He, Cui & Wang, 2012; Dero dorsalis Ferronière, 1899; Haemonais waldvogeli Bretscher, 1900; Nais simplex Piguet, 1906; N. inflata Liang, 1963; N. badia Peng, Wang & Cui, 2014; N. longidentata Cui, He, Peng & Wang, 2015 and Rhyacodrilus sinicus (Chen 1940)
Summary
The family Naididae, as the most diverse family within the class Oligochaeta, includes more than 1,100 valid species (Timm 2017). There are nine known subfamilies of Naididae worldwide, amongst which four subfamilies are common in China, including Naidinae, Tubificinae, Rhyacodrilinae and Pristininae (Wang and Cui 2008). The Naididae include species showing different degrees of tolerance to pollution, which explains why they are used as bioindicators and tolerant species. Aquatic oligochaete communities are used for assessing environmental conditions (e.g. sediment and water quality) and establishing ecological diagnostics. The identification of aquatic oligochaetes, based on DNA barcoding, will greatly facilitate the development of biological monitoring (Lafont et al 2010, Lafont et al 2012, Vivien et al 2020a). Highthroughput and metabarcoding techniques are assisting in the development of oligochaete indices (Vivien et al 2019, Vivien et al 2020b)
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