title: Low resolution of mitochondrial COI barcodes for identifying species of the genus Larus (Charadriiformes: Laridae).
abstract: We evaluated whether cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) barcodes that have been previously suggested for birds are useful for identifying species of the genus Larus, which are resident or migratory birds in Korea. We found 31 intra- or interspecific COI haplotypes from 12 of 13 Larus species in Korea. Haplotype analyses showed that the COI barcodes could not distinguish some interspecific haplotypes from 6 of 12 Larus species because there were no nucleotide substitutions among their COI haplotypes. The neighbor-joining tree formed shallow branches in the clades expected for L. saundersi, L. crassirostris, L. canus, L relictus, and L. ridbundus. In the nine Larus species, COI haplotypes were not grouped as distinct entities that were correctly assigned to their corresponding species, resulting in polytypic clades. These results indicate that the COI sequences need to be cautiously selected as a DNA barcode for identifying species of Korean Larus birds.
authors.affiliation: National Park Research Institute, Korea National Park, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Young Soo
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Kwon
authors.forename: Ji Hong
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Jae Chun
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Choe
authors.forename: Yung Chul
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Park
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D046091:Charadriiformes / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*; D058893:DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic / Q000379:methods*; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics*; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV / Q000235:genetics*; D006239:Haplotypes; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics; D056910:Republic of Korea; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV