The use of large and small subunits of ribosomal DNA in evaluating phylogenetic relationships between species ofCornudiscoidesKulkarni, 1969 (Monogenoidea: Dactylogyridae) from India

Abstract

AbstractTwo partial regions of ribosomal DNA (28S and 18S) were used to evaluate genetic variations among the species ofCornudiscoides,viz.C. proximus, C. geminusandC. agarwali, all parasites ofMystus vittatus(Bagridae) from River Gomati, Ganges River basin, India. Our findings demonstrated that both the large and small ribosomal subunits are useful for species identification and genetic characterization of parasites, leading to resolution of inter/intra-relationships at generic and specific levels. The secondary structures of all three species for 28S and 18S rRNA genes contained exact pattern matches (EMPs) displaying the high degree of similarity among them. The phylogenetic analyses within the members of Dactylogyridae demonstrated that species ofCornudiscoidescluster together for 28S rRNA and 18S rRNA genes.