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Analysis of the mitochondrial genome of the Indian darter, Anhinga melanogaster, suggests a species status taxonomic rank

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Abstract

Background

Anhinga melanogaster is a carnivorous water bird native to many Asian countries. A. melanogaster is part of the Old World clade of darters. There is currently significant debate about the organization of the Old World clade due to morphological and genetic ambiguities. It is essential to establish the taxonomic status of A. melanogaster because it was recently listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as a near threatened species.

Methods and results

The present study utilized a comprehensive molecular approach of the complete mitogenome of A. melanogaster to resolve its taxonomic status within the genus Anhinga. The mitogenome of A. melanogaster comprised of 13 protein-coding genes, 22 tRNA genes, 2 rRNA genes and a control region. A partially duplicated cytochrome b gene and control region were also present.

Conclusions

Duplicated mitogenomic segments and phylogenetic analyses suggest that A. melanogaster, A. novaehollandiae, A. rufa and A. anhinga should be considered distinct species within the Old World clade of darters. The present study provides new insights into the mitogenome features of A. melanogaster and its evolutionary relationship within the genus, Anhinga.

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Acknowledgements

The first author is thankful to the Kerala State Council for Science Technology and Environment (KSCSTE), Government of Kerala for the support in the form of a research fellowship. Karippadakam Bhavana was supported by the UGC (365844) through Ph.D fellowship. The authors are grateful to the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions which improved the manuscript. The authors are also grateful to Dr. Jacob Alexander, Veterinary Surgeon, Zoological Park, Trivandrum, Kerala.

Funding

The study was partially supported by the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, New Delhi (SR/S0/AS-84/2012).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Genomic Science, School of Biological Sciences, Central University of Kerala, Kasaragod, 671316, Kerala, India

    Subhash Thomas, Hijam Surachandra Singha, Ranganathan Kamalakkannan, Karippadakam Bhavana & Muniyandi Nagarajan

  2. College of Science and Technology, Bellevue University, Bellevue, NE, USA

    Sarah Gaughan

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  1. Subhash Thomas
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Contributions

MN conceived the study. ST performed the experiments. HSS, ST, RK, KB and MN performed the analyses. MN, HSS, SG and KB wrote the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Muniyandi Nagarajan.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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This study does not require ethical approval as the tissue sample used was collected from deceased specimen.

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Thomas, S., Singha, H.S., Kamalakkannan, R. et al. Analysis of the mitochondrial genome of the Indian darter, Anhinga melanogaster, suggests a species status taxonomic rank. Mol Biol Rep 48, 7343–7350 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-021-06737-8

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