A new set of primers for COI amplification from freshwater microcrustaceans

Despite the contribution of DNA barcoding towards understanding the biodiversity and distribution of species, the success of COI amplification has been quite variable when it comes to freshwater zooplankton (El ıas-Guti errez & Valdez-Moreno 2008; Jeffery etal. 2011). Some genera of microcrustaceans seem to be more difficult to amplify than others. For example, Macrothrix, Scapholeberis, Diaphanosoma and cyclopoids have yielded limited results. Among several possible reasons for the inability to barcode freshwater microcrustaceans is that there does not exist a specific set of primers for COI amplification. To this end, we developed a zooplankton - specific set of primers, which signifi- cantly increased average amplification success (20% increase). With these primers, we observed an overall success of over 70% for Sididae and Chydoridae, and more than 80% for Daphniidae, Moinidae, Bosminidae, Macrothricidae, Ilyocryptidae and Diaptomidae. We also demonstrate a simple alteration to a common specimen fixation method that increases the overall recovery of barcodes from freshwater zooplankton. Collectively, we believe our results will greatly aid the recovery of barcodes from these difficult groups.

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Prosser, Sean autor/a, Martínez Arce, Arely Maestra autor/a 13436, Elías Gutiérrez, Manuel Doctor autor/a 2041
Format: Texto biblioteca
Language:eng
Subjects:Microcrustáceos de agua dulce, Copépodos, Cladóceros, Códigos de barras de ADN,
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Summary:Despite the contribution of DNA barcoding towards understanding the biodiversity and distribution of species, the success of COI amplification has been quite variable when it comes to freshwater zooplankton (El ıas-Guti errez & Valdez-Moreno 2008; Jeffery etal. 2011). Some genera of microcrustaceans seem to be more difficult to amplify than others. For example, Macrothrix, Scapholeberis, Diaphanosoma and cyclopoids have yielded limited results. Among several possible reasons for the inability to barcode freshwater microcrustaceans is that there does not exist a specific set of primers for COI amplification. To this end, we developed a zooplankton - specific set of primers, which signifi- cantly increased average amplification success (20% increase). With these primers, we observed an overall success of over 70% for Sididae and Chydoridae, and more than 80% for Daphniidae, Moinidae, Bosminidae, Macrothricidae, Ilyocryptidae and Diaptomidae. We also demonstrate a simple alteration to a common specimen fixation method that increases the overall recovery of barcodes from freshwater zooplankton. Collectively, we believe our results will greatly aid the recovery of barcodes from these difficult groups.