Publication Date:
2024-05-28
Description:
Foraminifera are a species-rich phylum of rhizarian protists that are highly abundant in many marine
environments and play a major role in global carbon cycling. Species recognition in Foraminifera
is mainly based on morphological characters and nuclear 18S ribosomal RNA barcoding. The 18S
rRNA contains variable sequence regions that allow for the identification of most foraminiferal
species. Still, some species show limited variability, while others contain high levels of intragenomic
polymorphisms, thereby complicating species identification. The use of additional, easily obtainable
molecular markers other than 18S rRNA will enable more detailed investigation of evolutionary
history, population genetics and speciation in Foraminifera. Here we present the first mitochondrial
cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (COI) gene sequences (“barcodes”) of Foraminifera. We applied
shotgun sequencing to single foraminiferal specimens, assembled COI, and developed primers that
allow amplification of COI in a wide range of foraminiferal species. We obtained COI sequences of 49
specimens from 17 species from the orders Rotaliida and Miliolida. Phylogenetic analysis showed
that the COI tree is largely congruent with previously published 18S rRNA phylogenies. Furthermore,
species delimitation with ASAP and ABGD algorithms showed that foraminiferal species can be
identified based on COI barcodes.
Repository Name:
National Museum of Natural History, Netherlands
Type:
info:eu-repo/semantics/article
Format:
application/pdf
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