Mitochondrial barcodes of dragonflies and damselflies originated from Taman Negara Endau Rompin, Johor, Malaysia

Dragonflies and damselflies (Odonates) are important biological indicators in freshwater ecosystems. However, identification among Odonates is often challenging due to their similar morphological features. Therefore, the incorporation of morphological identification by taxonomists and validation using mitochondrial barcodes such as cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) can be a more reliable approach to enhance the accuracy in species identification. In this study, four COI barcodes for Malaysian dragonflies (Neurothemis fluctuans) and damselflies (Neurobasis chinensis, Aristocypha fenestrella and Sundacypha petiolata) were generated. Three of the generated barcodes (D2 COI, D4 COI and D5 COI) supported the species identified by taxonomists meanwhile D3 COI deduced that the damselfly species was misidentified due to the very similar morphology between the same genus of damselfly. All of the COI barcodes are now available in the GenBank with the accession numbers of MT266926.1 (D2 COI), MT266925.1 (D3 COI), MT269676.1 (D4 COI) and MT266924.1 (D5 COI)

The first complete mitochondrial genome data of hippocampus kuda originating from Malaysia

The spotted seahorse, Hippocampus kuda population is exponentially decreasing globally due to habitat loss contributed by massive coastal urbanization as well as its large exploitation for Chinese herbal medicine. Genomic data would be highly useful to improve biomonitoring of seahorse populations in Malaysia via the usage of non-invasive approaches such as water environmental DNA. Here we report the first complete mitogenome of two H. kuda individuals originating from Malaysia, generated using BGISEQ-500RS sequencer. The lengths of both mitogenomes are 16,529bp, consisting of 13 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer RNA genes, two ribosomal RNA genes, and a control region. The overall base composition was 32.46% for A, 29.40% for T, 14.73% for G and 23.41% for C with AT rich features (61.86%). The gene organization of Malaysian H. kuda were similar to that of most teleost species. A phylogenetic analysis of the genome against mtDNA data from other Hippocampus species showed that Malaysian H. kuda samples clustered with H. capensis, H. reidi and H. kuda. Notably however, analysis of the data using BLASTn revealed they had 99.18% similarity to H. capensis, and only 97.66% to H. kuda and H. reidi, which are all part of the unresolved H. kuda complex. The mitogenomes are deposited in Genbank under the accession number MT221436 (HK1) and MT221436 (HK2)

DNA barcoding for authentication of Orthosiphon stamineus herbal medicinal product using ITS2 nuclear marker originating from Malaysia

Orthosiphon stamineus (Misai Kucing) has become the focus of commercialization in Malaysia due to its potential health treatment benefits that can attract huge consumers' demand. Although the quality of herbal medicinal product (HMP) remains a major concern for consumers due to its high adulteration rate, there is insufficient testing done to determine whether the herb species used in HMP are as claimed in their ingredients. HMP authentication can be done by using a DNA barcoding approach which is species-specific. In this work, the first nuclear ITS2 barcode (279bp) from the fresh plant of O. stamineus (MKP) originating from Malaysia was successfully generated and deposited in Genbank (MT251295.1). The efficiency of the novel barcode in O. stamineus HMP authentication was tested in two samples, tea (MKT) and capsule (MKC) based on BLAST and NJ-tree analysis. The success of applying DNA barcoding by using ITS2 barcode generated in this work for HMP authentication makes it possible to complement conventional methods for O. stamineus HMP quality assurance testing and authentication in Malaysian herbal industry

Mitochondrial barcodes of three malaysian butterflies originating from Taman Negara Endau Rompin Johor, Malaysia

Butterflies are projected as reliable and economical biodiversity indicator. Traditionally, taxonomists identified and classified butterfly species based on highly similar and ambiguous morphological appearances which can result in problematic species identification process leading to misidentification of species. DNA barcoding has been developed for taxonomic identification of butterflies to species level. Nonetheless, this approach is hampered by the paucity of reference barcodes encompassing butterflies of all families and species in Malaysia. This study reported four novel DNA barcodes (two cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) and two cytochrome b, cytb) of Malaysian butterflies generated using Sanger sequencing. One barcode (DIB032 COI) supported the species identified by taxonomists whereas the other three barcodes (DIB034 COI, DIB034 cytb and DIB046/049 cytb) deduced that the butterfly species were either misidentified or unidentified up to species level due to the lack of reference barcodes in GenBank. The four novel DNA barcodes were deposited in GenBank under the accession number MT210226.1 (DIB032 COI), MT210227.1 (DIB034 COI), MT210228.1 (DIB034 cytb) and MT210229.1 (DIB046/049 cytb)

Mitochondrial barcodes of dragonflies and damselflies originated from Taman Negara Endau Rompin, Johor, Malaysia

Dragonflies and damselflies (Odonates) are important biological indicators in freshwater ecosystems. However, identification among Odonates is often challenging due to their similar morphological features. Therefore, the incorporation of morphological identification by taxonomists and validation using mitochondrial barcodes such as cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) can be a more reliable approach to enhance the accuracy in species identification. In this study, four COI barcodes for Malaysian dragonflies (Neurothemis fluctuans) and damselflies (Neurobasis chinensis, Aristocypha fenestrella and Sundacypha petiolata) were generated. Three of the generated barcodes (D2 COI, D4 COI and D5 COI) supported the species identified by taxonomists meanwhile D3 COI deduced that the damselfly species was misidentified due to the very similar morphology between the same genus of damselfly. All of the COI barcodes are now available in the GenBank with the accession numbers of MT266926.1 (D2 COI), MT266925.1 (D3 COI), MT269676.1 (D4 COI) and MT266924.1 (D5 COI)

DNA barcoding of commercial fish products using dual mitochondrial markers exposes evidence for mislabelling and trade of endangered species

Fish fraud has been extensively reported in world fish trade. The fraud includes IUCN Red List and CITES-listed species. Hence, there is a growing need to identify the trade of endangered and threatened species that has been misused to satisfy consumer needs. Here, we apply DNA barcoding by using dual mitochondrial marker; cytochrome b (Cytb) polymorphic fragment and cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) to authenticate 50 commercial fish products collected from the Malaysian market. The dual marker system improves species detection in tested fish products even in highly processed food and exposes the trade of one critically endangered (also CITES-listed) and three endangered or near threatened species under the IUCN red-list status. Our result also indicates that 36% of fish products in the Malaysian market is mislabelled and might cause concern for food safety. The newly developed Cytb primer pair also shows a higher success rate by identifying 92% of the tested samples compared to 40% for COI primer. This work suggests the dual-marker DNA barcoding approach is more effective in detecting food mislabelling and is indeed a promising tool to help regulatory bodies obtain a clearer standpoint for monitoring endangered fish trade to prevent further biodiversity loss