Assembling a DNA barcode reference library for the spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) of Pakistan

PLoS One. 2019 May 22;14(5):e0217086. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0217086. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

Morphological study of 1,795 spiders from sites across Pakistan placed these specimens in 27 families and 202 putative species. COI sequences >400 bp recovered from 1,782 specimens were analyzed using neighbor-joining trees, Bayesian inference, barcode gap, and Barcode Index Numbers (BINs). Specimens of 109 morphological species were assigned to 123 BINs with ten species showing BIN splits, while 93 interim species included representatives of 98 BINs. Maximum conspecific divergences ranged from 0-5.3% while congeneric distances varied from 2.8-23.2%. Excepting one species pair (Oxyopes azhari-Oxyopes oryzae), the maximum intraspecific distance was always less than the nearest-neighbor (NN) distance. Intraspecific divergence values were not significantly correlated with geographic distance. Most (75%) BINs detected in this study were new to science, while those shared with other nations mainly derived from India. The discovery of many new, potentially endemic species and the low level of BIN overlap with other nations highlight the importance of constructing regional DNA barcode reference libraries.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Bayes Theorem
  • DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic / methods*
  • DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic / standards*
  • Gene Library*
  • Pakistan
  • Phylogeny
  • Reference Standards
  • Spiders / classification*
  • Spiders / genetics*

Grants and funding

This study was enabled by grant 106106-001 “Engaging Developing Nations in iBOL” from the International Development Research Centre in Canada and by grant HEC No. 20-1403/R& D/09 “Sequencing DNA Barcodes of Economically Important Insect Species from Pakistan” from the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan awarded to MA. Sequence analysis was made possible by a grant from the Government of Canada through Genome Canada and Ontario Genomics in support of the International Barcode of Life (iBOL) project awarded to PDNH. This is a contribution to the Food From Thought project supported by the Canada First Research Excellence Fund awarded to PDNH. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.