National Institute of Biological Resources, Environmental Research Complex, Incheon, 404-708, South Korea.
Mol Ecol Resour. 2013 Nov;13(6):1019-32. doi: 10.1111/1755-0998.12055. Epub 2013 Jan 11.
Recently, amphibians and reptiles have drawn attention because of declines in species and populations caused mainly by habitat loss, overexploitation and climate change. This study constructed a DNA barcode database for the Korean herpetofauna, including all the recorded amphibians and 68% of the recorded reptiles, to provide a useful, standardized tool for species identification in monitoring and management. A total of 103 individuals from 18 amphibian and 17 reptile species were used to generate barcode sequences using partial sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene and to compare it with other suggested barcode loci. Comparing 16S rRNA, cytochrome b (Cytb) and COI for amphibians and 12S rRNA, Cytb and COI for reptiles, our results revealed that COI is better than the other markers in terms of a high level of sequence variation without length variation and moderate amplification success. Although the COI marker had no clear barcoding gap because of the high level of intraspecific variation, all of the analysed individuals from the same species clustered together in a neighbour-joining tree. High intraspecific variation suggests the possibility of cryptic species. Finally, using this database, confiscated snakes were identified as Elaphe schrenckii, designated as endangered in Korea and a food contaminant was identified as the lizard Takydromus amurensis.
最近，由于栖息地丧失、过度开发和气候变化等原因，两栖动物和爬行动物的物种和数量减少，引起了人们的关注。本研究构建了韩国爬行动物的 DNA 条码数据库，包括所有记录的两栖动物和 68%的记录爬行动物，为监测和管理中的物种鉴定提供了有用的标准化工具。共使用 18 种两栖动物和 17 种爬行动物的 103 个个体，通过线粒体细胞色素 c 氧化酶亚基 I (COI) 基因的部分序列生成条码序列，并与其他建议的条码基因座进行比较。比较 16S rRNA、Cytb 和 COI 用于两栖动物，12S rRNA、Cytb 和 COI 用于爬行动物，结果表明 COI 在没有长度变化的情况下具有较高的序列变异水平和适度的扩增成功率，优于其他标记。虽然 COI 标记由于种内变异水平高而没有明显的条形码间隙，但来自同一物种的所有分析个体在邻接树中聚在一起。高种内变异表明存在隐种的可能性。最后，利用该数据库鉴定出被没收的蛇为韩国濒危物种赤链蛇，而一种食品污染物则被鉴定为蜥蜴黑龙江草蜥。
