Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 31, 2026

A Concoction Pipeline for Generating Molecular Operational Taxonomic Units (MOTUs) Among Riparian and Aquatic Beetles
Published on: July 11, 2025
Selected mitochondrial genes as species markers of the Arctic Contracaecum osculatum complex
J Dzido1, A Kijewska, J Rokicki
1Department of Invertebrate Zoology, University of Gdansk, Poland.
Abstract:
This study, aimed at testing the hypothesis that some mitochondrial genes can serve as species-specific markers, involved a comparison of the sequence variance of selected mitochondrial DNA genes of the Arctic Contracaecum osculatum species (C. osculatum A, C. osculatum B and C. osculatum C). We compared differences between five complete (ND2, CYTB, ND3, ND4L and ND6) and three partial (CO1, CO3 and ND5) protein-coding genes. The total length of the sequence of each of the 13 specimens was 4830 bp. The sample consisted of C. osculatum L3 larvae collected from Reinhardtius hippoglossoides and Gadus ogac from the Barents Sea and Davis Strait. The K2P distance values between the species ranged within 0.06-0.12, the intraspecific variability (0.01-0.03) proving 3-6 times lower. The lowest interspecific divergence was observed between C. osculatum A and C. osculatum B, whereas the highest intraspecific diversity was typical of C. osculatum C. Among the C. osculatum species studied, the highest nucleotide diversity was recorded in the CYTB, CO3 and ND5 genes. These genes may be useful in species identification of the very closely related Contracaecum sibling species.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Multi-species Conserved Sequences
Although the genome of each species varies greatly from each other, a few sequences are highly conserved. Such conserved DNA...
Phylogenetic Species Concept in Microbiology
Hybrid Zones
Genetics of Speciation
Modern Molecular Taxonomy
Animal Mitochondrial Genetics

