title: Identification of animal species using the partial sequences in the mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene.
abstract: This study investigated a PCR direct sequencing method for species identification by analyzing partial sequences in the mitochondrial 16S rRNA genes of many animal species amplified with universal primers. Samples from 182 vertebrates and 103 invertebrates were analyzed, and the sequences could be obtained in 182 and 72 species, respectively. The sequence divergence was sufficient to identify the species at the level of genus with the aid of the GenBank database and the BLAST tool. This method could be a powerful tool for animal species identification, especially in forensic cases in which many unknown biological samples should be analyzed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Legal Medicine, Kansai Medical University, Osaka 570-8506, Japan. mitani@bea.hi-ho.ne.jp
authors.forename: Tomoaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mitani
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Akane
authors.forename: Takuma
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tokiyasu
authors.forename: Sumitaka
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yoshimura
authors.forename: Yutaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Okii
authors.forename: Manabu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yoshida
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001181:Arthropods / Q000235:genetics; D043344:Chordata / Q000235:genetics; D003063:Cnidaria / Q000235:genetics; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics*; D004447:Echinodermata / Q000235:genetics; D008974:Mollusca / Q000235:genetics; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S