Molecular taxonolny of Hypsibarbus spp. in penisular Malaysia: A preliminary study.

The tropical Asian cyprinid, genus Hypsibarbus is widely distributed in the freshwater habitats throughout Southeast Asia. Record on systematic status of the endangered genus Hypsibarbus in Malaysia has not been well documented

Conservation genetics of the common dormouse muscardinus avellanarius in UK

As anthropogenic factors have threaten species worldwide, conservation of a species through ex situ (i. e. captive breeding, reintroduction) provides one of the most powerful tools for species conservation. However, baseline genetic data prior to reintroduction of captive-bred individuals is essential for guiding such efforts, but this has not been gathered previously in the common dormouse, Muscardinus avellanarius. Thus, this thesis provides the first comprehensive study of spatial and temporal patterns of genetic diversity of populations of M. avellanarius in UK, with specific reference to investigate the breeding structure and contemporary and historical patterns of gene flow, both in natural and reintroduced populations. Additionally, this thesis analysed patterns of variation at two regions of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) to broader geographic divergence among UK populations of M avellanarius. The main findings in this thesis are: (1) reproductive behaviour of reintroduced M avellanarius population was retained as in the wild population despite enforced bottleneck during captivity that could change behaviour of a species, (2) both ecological and molecular genetic data provide broadly congruent estimates about the dispersal characteristics of M avellanarius in a large, continuous habitat. A significant isolation-by-distance (IBD) pattern at a fine scale (less than 1 km) was apparent within continuous populations with males more mobile than females (male-biased dispersal), (3) gene flow was generally restricted among separate populations (i. e. between habitat patches) at a scale of 1-10 km, (4) using mtDNA sequence data, three divergent phylogenetic lineages (Northwestern, Central and Southern) were recognized in the UK, implying colonization of the UK from separate refugia (e. g. continental Europe), that probably diverged during the Pleistocene period but prior to the last Ice Age. Interestingly, genealogical evidence revealed that the source populations of captive bred M avellanarius that were released in Wych (northern England) are from the southern UK, thus highlighting the use of genetics for conservation. The results of these studies will not only contribute to the understanding of dispersal characteristics and how this process has structured the populations at small and large scales, but also add significantly to biological and evolutionary understanding on M avellanarius, which can be directly applied to the ongoing conservation and management of this species

Authentication of a selected medicinal plants using DNA barcoding technique

Plants are valuable source of a medicine and have long being used to cure various ailments. However, the efficacy of drugs derived from plant depends on the reliable identification of correct plants. To avoids the usage of incorrect plant that can cause poisoning, a reliable method than morphological characteristic is required. DNA barcoding technique have shown to be an efficient tool for species identification by using a short fragment of the genomic DNA and has been used widely in molecular plant taxonomy for authentication of medicinal plants species. Thus, the goal of this study was to use DNA barcoding technique to discriminate medicinal plants. DNA samples were extracted from twenty medicinal plants, chosen based on their therapeutic efficacy and were used as templates. Internal transcribed spacer (ITS2) gene was selected to be the best molecular marker for identification purposes. The efficiency of the amplification by polymerase chain reaction was sending for sequencing and species identification was performed using MEGA6. Our findings show that DNA barcoding is an efficient tool for plants identification. This study revealed that medicinal plant and their closely related species can be distinguished by using DNA barcoding technique with ITS2 region as it is an efficient marker and potential DNA marker for authentication of selected plants

Authentication of a selected medicinal plants using DNA barcoding technique

Plants are valuable source of a medicine and have long being used to cure various ailments. However, the efficacy of drugs derived from plant depends on the reliable identification of correct plants. To avoids the usage of incorrect plant that can cause poisoning, a reliable method than morphological characteristic is required. DNA barcoding technique have shown to be an efficient tool for species identification by using a short fragment of the genomic DNA and has been used widely in molecular plant taxonomy for authentication of medicinal plants species. Thus, the goal of this study was to use DNA barcoding technique to discriminate medicinal plants. DNA samples were extracted from twenty medicinal plants, chosen based on their therapeutic efficacy and were used as templates. Internal transcribed spacer (ITS2) gene was selected to be the best molecular marker for identification purposes. The efficiency of the amplification by polymerase chain reaction was sending for sequencing and species identification was performed using MEGA6. Our findings show that DNA barcoding is an efficient tool for plants identification. This study revealed that medicinal plant and their closely related species can be distinguished by using DNA barcoding technique with ITS2 region as it is an efficient marker and potential DNA marker for authentication of selected plants

Molecular identification of commercially important species of Nemipterus (Perciformes: Nemipteridae) in surrounding seas of Malaysia

Imtiaz A, Duong TY, Nor SAM, Naim DM. 2016. Molecular identification of commercially important species of Nemipterus (Perciformes: Nemipteridae) in surrounding seas of Malaysia. Biodiversitas 17: 571-577. The genus Nemipterus is a group of coral fishes which are morphologically diversified in coloration and distribution pattern. In this study, the mitochondrial Cytochrome c oxidase-I (COI) gene was analyzed for genetic identification of 127 samples of genus Nemipterus from Malaysia waters. Sequence analysis of COI based data clearly distributed ten putative species into four distinct clusters clades. Intra-specific genetic distance values of 2.7%, 3.4% were observed in N. japonicus and N. nemurus which require more detailed analysis of the taxonomic status of some of the individuals attributing to slightly atypical values. Neighbor joining (NJ) tree shows a low genetic structuring in N. japonicus. Populations from Indian Ocean and South China Sea are isolated from each other but both share genetic structure with the population from the Straits of Malacca, suggesting the possibility of the latter acting as a barrier to the movement of this species between the two neighboring seas

DNA barcoding of Malaysian commercial snapper reveals an unrecognized species of the yellow-lined Lutjanus (Pisces:Lutjanidae).

Management of wild fisheries resources requires accurate knowledge on which species are being routinely exploited, but it can be hard to identify fishes to species level, especially in speciose fish groups where colour patterns vary with age. Snappers of the genus Lutjanus represent one such group, where fishes can be hard to identify and as a result fisheries statistics fail to capture species-level taxonomic information. This study employs traditional morphological and DNA barcoding approaches to identify adult and juvenile Lutjanus species harvested in Malaysian waters. Our results reveal a suite of species that differs markedly from those that have previously been considered important in the Malaysian wild-capture fishery and show that official fisheries statistics do not relate to exploitation at the species level. Furthermore, DNA barcoding uncovered two divergent groups of bigeye snapper ('Lutjanus lutjanus') distributed on either side of the Malay Peninsula, displaying a biogeographical pattern similar to distributions observed for many co-occurring reef-distributed fish groups. One of these bigeye snapper groups almost certainly represents an unrecognized species in need of taxonomic description. The study demonstrates the utility of DNA barcoding in uncovering overlooked diversity and for assessing species catch composition in a complicated but economically important taxonomic group