title: Genome profiling (GP) method based classification of insects: congruence with that of classical phenotype-based one.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Ribosomal RNAs have been widely used for identification and classification of species, and have produced data giving new insights into phylogenetic relationships. Recently, multilocus genotyping and even whole genome sequencing-based technologies have been adopted in ambitious comparative biology studies. However, such technologies are still far from routine-use in species classification studies due to their high costs in terms of labor, equipment and consumables.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Here, we describe a simple and powerful approach for species classification called genome profiling (GP). The GP method composed of random PCR, temperature gradient gel electrophoresis (TGGE) and computer-aided gel image processing is highly informative and less laborious. For demonstration, we classified 26 species of insects using GP and 18S rDNA-sequencing approaches. The GP method was found to give a better correspondence to the classical phenotype-based approach than did 18S rDNA sequencing employing a congruence value. To our surprise, use of a single probe in GP was sufficient to identify the relationships between the insect species, making this approach more straightforward.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The data gathered here, together with those of previous studies show that GP is a simple and powerful method that can be applied for actually universally identifying and classifying species. The current success supported our previous proposal that GP-based web database can be constructible and effective for the global identification/classification of species.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Saitama University, Saitama, Japan.
authors.forename: Shamim
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ahmed
authors.forename: Manabu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Komori
authors.forename: Sachika
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tsuji-Ueno
authors.forename: Miho
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Akinori
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kosaku
authors.forename: Kiyoshi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Miyamoto
authors.forename: Koichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nishigaki
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000235:genetics; D049750:Genome, Insect / Q000235:genetics; D023281:Genomics / Q000379:methods*; D060005:Genotyping Techniques; D007313:Insecta / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*; D010641:Phenotype; D010802:Phylogeny
chemical_list: D004275:DNA, Ribosomal