Download Molecular Taxonomy and Phylogenetic Relationships among the

Title of Project
Molecular Taxonomy and Phylogenetic Relationships among the Fishes
Belong to the Family Channidae
Channidae family fishes are one of the best known and most successful predatory
freshwater fishes in Southeast Asia, Channa are air-breathing freshwater fishes with
about 30 species known from Africa and Asia (Myers and Shapovalov, 1931; Wheeler,
1985; Roberts, 1989). The Asiatic species range from Afghanistan through to India,
Srilanka, Burma, Indo-China, China, Japan, Taiwan, Southeast Asia including the Lesser
Sunda Islands, Philippines and Sulawesi. They are renowned food fishes, and are popular
in most of the markets. Many of the smaller and more exotic species are also prized as
aquarium fishes, commanding high prices. The genus Channa thus, is valuable both as
food and as aquarium fishes, these fishes are important native food fishes with high cost.
In India they are called snake-headed fishes, serpent-headed fishes or Murrells. India
appears to be the center of diversity, with some 11 species.
Objectives
•
To know the phylogenetic relationships among Channidae family fishes
•
To build a phylogenetic tree of Channidae family fishes
•
To evaluate the relationship between Channidae and other families of freshwater
fishes
•
To develop and make freely available a user-friendly network tool to search for
nuclear genes useful for phylogenetic analysis of family Channidae.
•
The work will have national distribution and use fish as a model for
understanding evolution and the common ancestry of life.
•
The overall goal is to use population genetic data to better inform fisheries
managers and fishery planning.
Methodology
In order to establish the genetic relations among 11 species of Indian snake head
fishes belonging to the family Channidae, analysis will be made through Electrophoresis
Polymer Chain Reaction (PCR) methods which provide information on the genetic
similarity of populations to compare populations representing the same and that of
different species. The endo-skeletal studies on fishes will be done in both similarities and
dissimilarities will be taken into account. The phylogenetic relation of these fishes with
other fishes will be made through DNA extraction and mitochondrial DNA amplification
and sequencing. The data obtained on the individual species will be used for the purpose
of phylogenetic analysis and to explain several important morphological modifications,
general phylogenetic trends and principles such as the phenomenon of precession or
phylogenetic acceleration. The morphological and molecular data base will be used to
determine whether these fishes are monophyletic, paraphyletic or polyphyletic.
Significant outcome from Proposed Work
Without phylogenetic trees we can’t make much sense of the pattern of life. The
phylogenetic tree of multi-cellular organisms reveals that the fishes are known from 450
million years ago. It is emphasized that phylogenetic frame work in which the definition
of homology is placed specifies levels between and within which comparisons can most
useful be made so enabling problems of interest to both systematists and morphologists to
be tackled. The use of molecular techniques have proven to be extremely powerful in
systematics, for it has provided methods to rapidly measure and properly compare a vast
number of characters like gel electrophoresis, PCR, DNA extract, mitochondrial DNA
amplification and sequences from many species that yield estimates of relationship of
unprecedented accuracy in some cases far back into geological time. It is obvious that
phylogenetic studies are used in the systematics, because phylogeny is representing
morphological, biochemical characteristics, gene sequence and the genealogical
relationships of living organisms. The molecular studies describe the phylogenetic
systematics. The build phylogenetic trees based on DNA sequences of species belong to
the family Channidae give us a detailed picture on their phylogenetic relation and their
systematic position too. With this background it is proposed to make the DNA
sequencing of the fishes belong to the family Channidae. The taxonomic and
phylogenetic relationships of these fishes have to be estimated through the comparative
anatomy, biochemical characteristics and DNA sequencing, while studying there may be
a chance to discover new species of Channidae. It is proposed to make a relationship
between systematics and phylogeny of these fishes on the basis of DNA sequencing.
Year wise work plan
First year plan
: In this year, will collect all Channidae family fishes which are
available in India and preserve them for further studies
Second year plan
: Prepare endo-skeletal structure of fish species, conduct
morphological and molecular taxonomical laboratory studies like
gel electrophoresis, PCR techniques, extract DNA and prepare
Mitochondrial DNA amplification and sequences.
Third year plan
: In this year, retrospection of work will done, I correlate the
gained data and preparation of phylogenic trees will be made to
reveal the genetic diversity, while studying there may be a chance
to discover new species of Channidae.
References:
1. Clifford W. Cunningham, 1997. In congruence between data partitions a reliable
predictor of phylogenetic accuracy? Empirically testing on iterative procedure for
choosing among phylogenetic methods. Syst. Biol. Vol-46(3), Pages-464-478.
2. David Williams, Christopher Humphries and Patterson, 1993. Congruence
between molecular and morphological phylogenies. Annual review of Ecology and
Systematics. Vol-24: pp-153-188.
3. E.O. Wiley, G. David Johnson and Walter Wheaton Dimmick. 2000. The
interrelationships of Acanthomarphy fishes: A total evidence approach using
molecular and morphological data. Bio-chemical systematics and Ecology. Vol-28(4),
Pages: 319-350.
4. Goodwin, B. C., N. Holder and C. Wylie, 1983. How does phylogeny differ from
ontogeny? In development and evolution. Cambridge Univ. Press. Pp-1-31.
5. John P. Friel and Peter C. Wainwright, 1997. A model system of structural
duplications: Homologies of adductor mondibulae muscles in tetraodontiform fishes.
Sys. Biol. 46(3), pages: 441-463.
6. K.A. Joysey and A.E. Friday, Morphological characters and homology in
problems of phylogenetic reconstruction, Systematics Association special. Vol-21,
pp-21-74.
7. M.K. Hecht, P.C. Goody and B.M. Hecht, 1977. The contribution of paleontology
to Teleostean phylogeny in major patterns of vertebrate evolution, Newyork : Plenum
press pp-579-643.
8. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, Volume 40, Issue 3, Pages 856-865.
9. Myers, G.S and L. Shapovalov, 1931. On the identity of Ophiocephalus and
Channa, two genera of Labyrinthfishes. Peking Nar. Hist. Bull., 6: 33-37/
10. P.F. Stevens homology and phylogeny, morphology and systematics. Syst. Biol.
Vol-9(4), pp-395-409.
11. Patterson, 1988. Homology in classical and molecular biology, Molecular
Biology and Evolution (5): pp-603-625.
12. Perdices, A., D. Sayanda and M.M. Coelho. December 2005. Mitochondrial
diversity of Opsariichthys bidens (Teleostei, Cyprinidae) in three Chinese drainages.
Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, Volume 37, Issue 3, Pages 920-927.
13. Perdices, A.,C. Cunha and M. M. Coelho, April 2004, Phylogenetic structure of
Zacco platypus (Teleostei, Cyprinidae) populations on the upper and middle Chang
Jiang (=Yangtze) drainage inferred from cytochrome b sequences. Molecular
Phylogenetics and Evolution, Volume 31, Issue 1, Pages 192-203.
14. Philip C.J Donoghue, 2002. Evolution of development of the vertebrate Dermal
and oral skeletons: unraveling concepts, regulatory theories, and homologies.
Paleobiology. Vol-28(4), pp-474-507.
15. Phylogenies and fossils, Systematic Zoology. Vol-29: pp-216-219.
16. Roberts, T.R., 1989. The Freshwater Fishes of Western Borneo (Kalimantan
Barat, Indonesia). Mem. Calif. Acad. Sci., 14: 1-210.
17. Rui Diogo, 2004. Morphological evolution, aptations, homoplasies, constraints
and evolutionary trends: catfishes as a case study of general phylogeny and
macroevolution. Science publishers. Inc.
18. W.C. Gibson, J. Lom, H. Peckova, V.R. Ferris and B. Hamilton, 2005.
Phylogenetic analysis of freshwater fish Trypanosomes from Europe using ssur RNA
gene sequences and random amplification of polymorphic DNA. Cambridge
Journals, Vol-130(4).
19. Wheeler, A., 1985. The World Encyclopaedia of Fishes. Mc Donald Book,
London and Sydney, 368pp, 501 figures. (First edition, 1975)
20. Zemao Gu, Jianguo Wang, Ming Li, Jinyong Zhang, Xiaoli Ke and
Xiaoning Gong, 2007, Morphological and genetic differences of Trypanosoma in
some Chinese freshwater fishes: difficulties of species identification. Parasitology
research, Vol 101(3), pp 723-730.