| Titre : | Forensic identification of sixteen species of Chesapeake Bay sportfishes using mitochondrial DNA restriction fragment-length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis |
| Auteurs : | J. F. Cordes, Auteur ; S. L. Armknecht, Auteur ; E. A. Starkey, Auteur ; J. E. Graves, Auteur |
| Type de document : | Article |
| Dans : | Estuaries (24(1) FEB 2001) |
| Article en page(s) : | 49-58 |
| Résumé : | A method for the genetic identification of sixteen species of Chesapeake Bay sportfishes was developed using restriction Fragment-length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of two mitochondrial (mt) DNA gene regions amplified by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). To facilitate molecular-based identifications we screened for genetic markers that revealed minimal intraspecific variation but consistently discriminated among the different species. Two mitochondrial markers were developed to provide redundancy for identifications, and 40 individuals of each species were screened with both markers. The primary marker was a region of mtDNA approximately 1,495 base-pairs (bp) in length that included part of the 12S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene and crossed into the adjacent 16S rRNA gene. When digested with the restriction enzyme Rsa I, this region provided unique restriction patterns for all sixteen species. The second marker was a region of the mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase 4 (ND4) gene approximately 1,700 bp in length and digested with the restriction enzyme BstOI. This marker also discriminated among all sixteen species, but revealed higher levels of intraspecific variation than the rRNA genes. An additional set of restriction profiles was obtained for this region using the enzyme Ava II to provide identification in the event a novel restriction pattern might be encountered in future studies. Because a minimal amount of tissue is required for the PCR/RFLP analysis, these molecular markers should prove useful in identifying fishes both as adults and in their early life history stages. |



