Molecular characterization of the prey field of vermivorous Conus species: DNA barcoding of polychaetes

• Main Authors: Astilla, Mary Anne Q., Heralde, Francisco M., III, Concepcion, Gisela P., Olivera, Baldomero M., Lluisma, Arturo O.
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 2007
• Subjects: Polychaeta—Identification; Nucleotide sequence; Biology
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/faculty_research/7095
• Institution: De La Salle University

The polychaetes are a group of segmented worms widely distributed in the marine environment, existing in diverse habitats. These worms are prey to many economically important fishes and invertebrates including venomous marine gastropods (Duda et a 2001). Identification of members of this taxon can be dauntingly difficult task requiring dissection of anterior parts. Furthermore, the fragility of most specimens can become a challenging limitation to the process. One alternative strategy would be to employ molecular techniques like DNA fingerprinting and other similar approaches. Here, species identification by DNA sequence analysis of a uniform target gene now referred to as DNA barcoding, is employed. In this study, mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase 1 (mtCO1) gene sequence is evaluated for its utility as DNA barcode of polychaetes. The same marker has been successfully used in discriminating species across animal kingdom (Hebert et al 2003). A direct application of this strategy is demonstrated in the prey identification of Conus mustelimus.