College of Fisheries (Central Agricultural University, Imphal), Lembucherra, Tripura (West), 799210, India.
Sci Rep. 2018 Jun 5;8(1):8579. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-26976-3.
To develop an effective conservation and management strategy, it is required to assess the biodiversity status of an ecosystem, especially when we deal with Indo-Myanmar biodiversity hotspot. Importance of this reaches to an entirely different level as the hotspot represents the area of high endemism which is under continuous threat. Therefore, the need of the present study was conceptualized, dealing with molecular assessment of the fish fauna of Indo-Myanmar region, which covers the Indian states namely, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, and Nagaland. A total of 363 specimens, representing 109 species were collected and barcoded from the different rivers and their tributaries of the region. The analyses performed in the present study, i.e. Kimura 2-Parameter genetic divergence, Neighbor-Joining, Automated Barcode Gap Discovery and Bayesian Poisson Tree Processes suggest that DNA barcoding is an efficient and reliable tool for species identification. Most of the species were clearly delineated. However, presence of intra-specific and inter-specific genetic distance overlap in few species, revealed the existence of putative cryptic species. A reliable DNA barcode reference library, established in our study provides an adequate knowledge base to the groups of non-taxonomists, researchers, biodiversity managers and policy makers in sketching effective conservation measures for this ecosystem.
为了制定有效的保护和管理策略，需要评估生态系统的生物多样性状况，特别是在涉及印度-缅甸生物多样性热点地区时。由于热点地区是高特有性的区域，持续受到威胁，因此其重要性达到了完全不同的水平。因此，本研究的概念化是基于对印度-缅甸地区鱼类动物群的分子评估，该地区涵盖了印度的曼尼普尔邦、梅加拉亚邦、米佐拉姆邦和那加兰邦。从该地区的不同河流及其支流共采集了 363 个标本，代表了 109 个物种，并对其进行了条形码标记。本研究进行的分析，即 Kimura 2-Parameter 遗传分歧、邻接法、自动条形码间隙发现和贝叶斯泊松树过程分析表明，DNA 条形码是一种有效的、可靠的物种鉴定工具。大多数物种都得到了清晰的划分。然而，少数物种存在种内和种间遗传距离重叠，这表明存在潜在的隐存种。本研究建立的可靠 DNA 条形码参考文库为非分类学家、研究人员、生物多样性管理者和政策制定者提供了充分的知识库，以制定针对该生态系统的有效保护措施。
