title: Identification of forensically important flesh flies based on a shorter fragment of the cytochrome oxidase subunit I gene in China.
abstract: With the development of molecular identification, there has been a great deal of discussion about the feature of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) fragments. Although longer fragments may minimize stochastic variation across taxa and be more likely to reflect broader patterns of nucleotide divergence, shorter fragments have many advantages, such as quick, easy and economical. Extensive application of long mtDNA segments for species identification cannot always be achieved as a result of constraints in time and money. In the present study, a molecular identification method involving the sequencing of a 272-bp 'barcode' fragment of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) gene from 55 specimens, representing 7 Chinese sarcophagid species from varying populations, was evaluated. Phylogenetic analysis of the sequenced segments showed that all sarcophagid specimens were properly assigned into seven species, which indicated the possibility of separation congeneric species with the short fragments. The results of this research will be instrumental for the implementation of the Chinese Sarcophagidae database.
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Science, Central South University, Changsha, China.
authors.forename: Y D
authors.initials: YD
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.forename: F M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.forename: Y F
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Lan
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Wen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002681:China; D058893:DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic / Q000379:methods*; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV / Q000235:genetics; D004772:Entomology / Q000379:methods*; D044707:Forensic Sciences / Q000379:methods*; D019476:Insect Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D058493:Sarcophagidae / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D019476:Insect Proteins; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV