Cytochrome c oxidase subunit I  barcoding of the green bee-eater (Merops orientalis).
DNA barcoding  using mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) is regarded as a  standard method for species identification. Recent reports have also shown  extended applications of COI gene analysis in phylogeny and molecular diversity  studies. The bee-eaters are a group of near passerine birds in the family  Meropidae. There are 26 species worldwide; five of them are found in Saudi  Arabia. Until now, GenBank included a COI barcode for only one species of  bee-eater, the European bee-eater (Merops apiaster). We sequenced the  694-bp segment of the COI gene of the green bee-eater M. orientalis and  compared the sequences with those of M. apiaster. Pairwise sequence  comparison showed 66 variable sites across all the eight sequences from both  species, with an interspecific genetic distance of 0.0362. Two and one  within-species variable sites were found, with genetic distances of 0.0005 and  0.0003 for M. apiaster and M. orientalis, respectively. This is  the first study reporting barcodes for M. orientalis.
Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
I A
IA
Arif
H A
HA
Khan
M
M
Shobrak
J
J
Williams
D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D001717:Birds / Q000235:genetics*; D058893:DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000737:chemistry; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D014644:Genetic Variation; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000201:enzymology / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D021122:Protein Subunits / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D012529:Saudi Arabia; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013045:Species Specificity
D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D021122:Protein Subunits; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV