Diversity of marine nematodes from Continental and Antarctic Chile: A morphological and molecular assessment

Valderrama-Aravena, Natalia; Pérez-Araneda, Karla; Avaria-Llautureo, Jorge; Hernández, Cristián E.; Lee, Matthew; Brante, Antonio

Abstract

Free-living nematodes are an important component of the marine benthos. In Chile there have been few studies on this group, and the majority has focused on the morphological aspect only. In this study, ribosomal 18S RNA and mitochondrial COI genes were used as genetic markers to complement morphological analyses to study the continental and Antarctic Chilean marine nematofauna. Different protocols for fixing, extracting and amplifying DNA were also tested. Not all the possible combinations produced good results. In fact, only the 18S gene showed consistently results. Phylogenetic analyses showed some discordance between classical taxonomy (i.e., based on morphology) and molecular data. These results suggest that taxonomic classification using integrative approaches including morphological characteristics and molecular information is needed to study the diversity and evolution of this complex group.

Más información

Título según WOS: Diversity of marine nematodes from Continental and Antarctic Chile: A morphological and molecular assessment
Título de la Revista: REVISTA DE BIOLOGIA MARINA Y OCEANOGRAFIA
Volumen: 49
Número: 1
Editorial: UNIV VALPARAISO
Fecha de publicación: 2014
Página de inicio: 147
Página final: 155
Idioma: Spanish
Notas: ISI - ISI