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Development of genomic resources for the phylogenetic analysis of the Brachionus plicatilis species complex (Rotifera: Monogononta)

  • ROTIFERA XII
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Abstract

There has been a substantial leap forward in the quantity and quality of genomic resources available for research on rotifers in recent years. We used available genomic and bioinformatics resources to identify variable regions of the genome to design PCR and sequencing primers for the Brachionus plicatilis complex. We then tested their suitability for the study of systematics of this group. Eight amplified successfully for members of the B. plicatilis complex. We sequenced the amplified products, constructed a concatenated alignment (5,511 bp) and carried out phylogenetic analyses. The resulting tree, based on mitochondrial and nuclear genes for 11 clones of six species, was well supported even at relatively deep nodes, contrasting with results of previous studies using only mitochondrial genes, which provide little phylogenetic information for the deepest nodes. The same procedure could be used to design primers for more conserved regions to be used in a wider range of rotifer groups.

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Acknowledgments

AG was funded by a NERC Advanced Fellowship, and J. M-P by a short stay travel grant and a fellowship by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología (BES2004-5248). We are grateful to Katie Tindall and David Lunt for their invaluable advice in bioinformatics resources, David Lunt provided constructive comments on previous versions of the manuscript and Michael Monaghan, Stuart Longhorn and Alexander Witek gave valuable suggestions that improved this manuscript. Mónica Medina kindly provided unpublished mitochondrial sequences. We thank David Mark Welch for making available to us an unpublished B. manjavacas EST library.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Hull, Hull, HU6 7RX, UK

    Javier Montero-Pau & Africa Gómez

  2. Institut Cavanilles de Biodiversitat i Biologia Evolutiva, Universitat de València, A.O. 22085, 46071, Valencia, Spain

    Javier Montero-Pau

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  1. Javier Montero-Pau
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  2. Africa Gómez
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Correspondence to Javier Montero-Pau.

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Guest editors: N. Walz, R. Adrian, J.J. Gilbert, M.T. Monaghan, G. Weithoff & H. Zimmermann-Timm / Rotifera XII: New aspects in rotifer evolution, genetics, reproduction, ecology and biogeography

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Montero-Pau, J., Gómez, A. Development of genomic resources for the phylogenetic analysis of the Brachionus plicatilis species complex (Rotifera: Monogononta). Hydrobiologia 662, 43–50 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-010-0485-3

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