title: Mitochondrial signatures for identification of grouper species from Indian waters.
abstract: Groupers are important commercial fish in many parts of the world. Accurate identification is critical for effective conservation assessment and fisheries management. Genetic barcodes provide a simple and reproducible method for the identification of species even in the absence of taxonomic expertise. The generation of reference barcodes from properly identified specimens is an important first step in this direction. Here, 36 species belonging to the subfamily Epinephelinae (Family: Serranidae) were collected from landings on the west coast of India and Port Blair, Andaman, and partial nucleotide sequence data of the mitochondrial cytochrome C oxidase subunit I (COI) gene was generated. Barcodes for 13 species were developed from Indian waters for the first time. Analysis using the COI gene produced phylogenetic trees in concurrence with other multi-gene studies. Epinephelus fasciatus and E. areolatus were found to be a species complex, as hypothesized in other studies. The DNA barcodes developed in the study can be used for identifying species within Epinehelinae, where taxonomic ambiguity still exists.
authors.affiliation: a National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources, PMFGR Centre , CMFRI Campus, Ernakulam North , Kochi , Kerala , India.
authors.forename: V S
authors.initials: VS
authors.lastname: Basheer
authors.affiliation: a National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources, PMFGR Centre , CMFRI Campus, Ernakulam North , Kochi , Kerala , India.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Vineesh
authors.affiliation: a National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources, PMFGR Centre , CMFRI Campus, Ernakulam North , Kochi , Kerala , India.
authors.forename: K K
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Bineesh
authors.affiliation: a National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources, PMFGR Centre , CMFRI Campus, Ernakulam North , Kochi , Kerala , India.
authors.forename: Rahul G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: a National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources, PMFGR Centre , CMFRI Campus, Ernakulam North , Kochi , Kerala , India.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mohitha
authors.affiliation: b Department of Ocean Studies & Marine Biology Brookshabad Campus , Pondicherry University , Junglighat , PortBlair , Andamans , India.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Venu
authors.affiliation: a National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources, PMFGR Centre , CMFRI Campus, Ernakulam North , Kochi , Kerala , India.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kathirvelpandian
authors.affiliation: c Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute , Ernakulam North , Kochi , Kerala , India.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gopalakrishnan
authors.affiliation: d National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources , Dilkusha , Lucknow , India.
authors.forename: J K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Jena
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001492:Bass / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D058893:DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic / Q000379:methods*; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV / Q000235:genetics*; D029941:Fish Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D007194:India; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000235:genetics; D010802:Phylogeny; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D029941:Fish Proteins; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV
keywords: COI; DNA barcoding; India; groupers