Utility of multi-gene loci for forensic species diagnosis of blowflies
1Institute of Insect Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310029, China
2Department of Zoology, University of Peshawar, Peshawar 25120, Pakistan
Abstract
Contemporary studies in forensic entomology exhaustively evaluate gene sequences because these constitute the fastest and most accurate method of species identification. For this purpose single gene segments, cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) in particular, are commonly used. However, the limitation of such sequences in identification, especially of closely related species and populations, demand a multi-gene approach. But this raises the question of which group of genes can best fulfill the identification task? In this context the utility of five gene segments was explored among blowfly species from two distinct geographic regions, China and Pakistan. COI, cytochrome b (CYTB), NADH dehydrogenase 5 (ND5), nuclear internal transcribed spacers (ITS1 and ITS2), were sequenced for eight blowfly species including Chrysomya megacephala F. (Diptera: Calliphoidae), Ch. pinguis Walker, Lucilia sericata Meigen, L. porphyrina Walker, L. illustris Meigen, Hemipyrellia ligurriens Wiedemann, Aldrichina grahami Aldrich, and the housefly, Musca domestica L. (Muscidae), from Hangzhou, China; while COI, CYTB, and ITS2 were sequenced for four species, i.e. Ch. megacephala, Ch. rufifacies, L. cuprina, and the flesh fly, Sarcophaga albiceps Meigen (Sarcophagidae), from Dera Ismail Khan Pakistan. The results demonstrate a universal utility of these gene segments in the molecular identification of flies of forensic importance.
Keywords: Calliphoridae, cytochrome b, molecular identification, NADH dehydrogenase 5, nuclear internal transcribed spacers
Abbreviations: COI, cytochrome oxidase subunit I; CYTB, cytochrome b; MP, maximum parsimony; ML, maximum likelihood; ITS1, ITS2, nuclear internal transcribed spacers 1 and 2; ND5, NADH dehydrogenase 5
Correspondence:
a zaidi_farrah@yahoo.com,
b shujun268@163.com,
c shimin0623@zju.edu.cn,
d* xxchen@zju.edu.cn, *Corresponding author
Editor: Zhijian Jake Tu was editor of this paper
Received: 12 February 2010 | Accepted: 24 September 2010 | Published: 5 May 2011
Copyright: This is an open access paper. We use the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license that permits unrestricted use, provided that the paper is properly attributed.
ISSN: 1536-2442 | Volume 11, Number 59
Zaidi F, Wei S-j, Shi M, Chen X-x. 2011. Utility of multi-gene loci for forensic species diagnosis of blowflies. Journal of Insect Science 11:59 available online: insectscience.org/11.59
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