Phylogeny and DNA Barcoding of the Family Sparidae Inferredfrom Mitochondrial DNA of the Egyptian Waters

Abstract

Background: The family Sparidae includes about 115 species divided into 33 genera that inhabits tropical and temperate coastal waters of the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic oceans. Herein, fish of family Sparidae were molecularly barcoded using the mitochondrial gene, cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI). Materials and Methods: Fish samples from 22 fish species of the family Sparidae were collected from Abo Qir Bay, West of the Mediterranean sea and the Gulf of Suez, North of the Red Sea. Genomic DNA was extracted from fish muscles of these species and partial coding region of the COI gene was amplified then sequenced and their sequences were deposited into the GenBank database. Results: The results of the phylogenetic tree showed that monophyly of Sparidae species. The tree was divided into two distinct clades and some sub-clades. The two major clades are including all the species under the study except Crenidens crenidens in a separate branch. Conclusion: Our results confirm the phylogenetic relationship of these Sparidae species in Egyptian Mediterranean and Red Sea and support the previous finding which concluded that the Sparidae is composed by two major lineages.