CO I barcoding reveals new clades and radiation patterns of Indo-Pacific sponges of the family Irciniidae (Demospongiae: Dictyoceratida).
BACKGROUND
DNA barcoding is a promising tool to facilitate a rapid and unambiguous identification of sponge species. Demosponges of the order Dictyoceratida are particularly challenging to identify, but are of ecological as well as biochemical importance.


RESULTS
Here we apply DNA barcoding with the standard CO1-barcoding marker on selected Indo-Pacific specimens of two genera, Ircinia and Psammocinia of the family Irciniidae. We show that the CO1 marker identifies several species new to science, reveals separate radiation patterns of deep-sea Ircinia sponges and indicates dispersal patterns of Psammocinia species. However, some species cannot be unambiguously barcoded by solely this marker due to low evolutionary rates.


CONCLUSIONS
We support previous suggestions for a combination of the standard CO1 fragment with an additional fragment for sponge DNA barcoding.
Pöppe
Judith
J
Museum für Naturkunde, Department of Malacozoology, Leibniz Institute for Research on Evolution and Biodiversity at the Humboldt University Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
Sutcliffe
Patricia
P
Hooper
John N A
JN
Wörheide
Gert
G
Erpenbeck
Dirk
D
D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D004247:DNA / Q000032:analysis*; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV / Q000235:genetics*; D001330:Electronic Data Processing / Q000379:methods*; D005819:Genetic Markers; D009792:Oceans and Seas; D011161:Porifera / Q000235:genetics*
D005819:Genetic Markers; D004247:DNA; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV