Molecular identification of subspecies on the Arabian Peninsula using three mitochondrial barcoding genes and ISSR markers.

The Collared Kingfisher is widely distributed across the Indian and western Pacific Oceans and consists of about 50 subspecies. Two different subspecies of occur in the Arabian Peninsula: from the Red Sea coast and from the Arabian Sea coast in the United Arab Emirates and Oman. The aim of this study was to determine the molecular relationship between the two Arabian subspecies and to establish the first DNA barcodes from the Arabian Peninsula for this species. Three different mitochondrial genes were used: (i) cytochrome oxidase subunit I (), (ii) 12S rRNA () and (iii) NADH dehydrogenase-1 () The gene sequences of the two subspecies were 100% identical, while the and gene sequences revealed a unique single nucleotide variation between the two subspecies. Thus, this single nucleotide variation can be used as a DNA barcode to discriminate between two subspecies. Furthermore, the genetic profile or fingerprint for both subspecies were compared using ten primers of the highly polymorphic nuclear markers (Inter Simple Sequence Repeat, ISSR). As expected, the DNA analysis of the ISSR markers was able to distinguish between the specimens of the two subspecies. These results suggest that and are not identical and thus belong to different subspecies. Besides, the sequences of the gene for and differs by only 1.28% from suggesting that the Arabian subspecies are closely related to the Sacred Kingfisher ().