Application of DNA barcoding to identification of rodents in Zhejiang Province / 预防医学

ABSTRACT

Objective@# To apply DNA barcoding to identifying the rodents in Zhejiang Province. @*Methods @#Rodents were captured from Jiashan,Longyou,Yunhe and Ninghai counties in Zhejiang Province. The DNA was extracted from ears of rodent samples,and was amplified and sequenced with mitochondrial cytochrome C oxidase subunit I（COI）genes. The obtained sequences were compared with the related sequences in GenBank,and neighbour-joining evolutionary tree was constructed. Then the results by DNA barcoding and by morphological identification were compared. @*Results @#A total of 22 COI gene samples were amplified. The evolutionary tree constructed by 18 samples was consistent with the morphological identification results and 4 samples were different：Suncus murinus should be Crocidura lasiura,infant rats of Rattus losea and Rattus tanezumi was re-identified as Rattus rattus,infant rats of Microtus fortis（sample number：NH-1）needs further identification. @*Conclusion @#DNA barcoding can effectively correct the errors of morphological identification,thus combining the two methods could improve the accuracy of rodent identification.