Molecular taxonomy of some sponges (Demospongiae) using ribosomal (18s rrna) and partial mitochondrial (coi) genes

Ton That Huu Dat; Nguyen Thi Kim Cuc; Pham Viet Cuong

doi:10.15625/2615-9023/v40n4.12705

Author affiliations

Authors

Ton That Huu Dat Mientrung Institute for Scientific Research, VAST
Nguyen Thi Kim Cuc Institute of Marine Biochemistry, VAST
Pham Viet Cuong Mientrung Institute for Scientific Research, VAST

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15625/2615-9023/v40n4.12705

Keywords:

Demospongiae, 18S rRNA, COI, Phylogenetic tree, Porifera, Mitochondrial genes.

Abstract

Sponges, the most ancient multicellular metazoan, were widely distributed across habitats.
Vietnam is known to possess a high biodiversity of sponges, however, they are mostly identified based on morphological characteristics and lack the molecular data. In the current study, the phylogenetic relationship of some sponges (Demospongiae) in Vietnam was constructed using two independent markers (COI and 18S rRNA). In this paper the individual markers (COI and 18S rRNA) were successfully used to identify some sponge taxa at the species level. The obtained results showed the congruence of molecular taxonomy using two independent markers. However, our study showed that a combination of the two markers provided more
information and supported better for sponge identification. At order level, the COI tree and 18S rRNA tree also recovered the same clades, indicating the congruence of COI and 18S rRNA genes in sponge classification. However, branching order of the clades in COI tree was weakly supported and slightly different from those in 18S rRNA tree.