Sains Malaysiana 40(2)(2011): 125–133

Molecular Phylogeny of Holothuria (Mertensiothuria) leucospilota (Brandt 1835) as Inferred from Cytochrome C Oxidase I Mitochondrial DNA Gene Sequences

Filogeni Molekul Holothuria (Mertensiothuria) leucospilota (Brandt 1835) Berdasarkan Penjujukan Gen Sitokrom C Oksidase I Mitokondria DNA

Kamarul Rahim Kamarudin^1,*, ‘Aisyah Mohamed Rehan², Ridzwan Hashim², Gires Usup³,

Hajar Fauzanahmad², Mohd Hanafi Anua² & Mohd Yamanidris²

¹School of Biological Sciences (SBS), The University of Auckland

Private Bag 92019, Auckland 1142, New Zealand

²Sea Cucumber (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea)

Research Group Institute of Oceanography & Maritime Studies (INOCEM)

Kulliyyah of Science, International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM)

Jalan Istana, Bandar Indera Mahkota, 25200 Kuantan, Pahang Darul Makmur, Malaysia

³Marine Science Programme

School of Environmental & Natural Resource Sciences, Faculty of Science & Technology

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor D.E., Malaysia

Received: 5 November 2009 / Accepted: 16 June 2010

ABSTRACT

Holothuria (Mertensiothuria) leucospilota (Brandt 1835), white threads fish or locally known as bat puntil is currently considered as the most abundant sea cucumber species in Malaysia. This study aimed to generate the genetic profile of H. leucospilota from Malaysia and then to determine the phylogenetic relationship between H. leucospilota and other members of genus Holothuria using partial sequences of cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) gene. In this study, specimens of H. leucospilota were collected from Intan Besar Island, Langkawi, Kedah Darul Aman in the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia. Three main methods namely neighbour joining, maximum parsimony and maximum likelihood were used for the phylogenetic tree reconstruction. Tree topologies showed that H. leucospilota has its own monophyletic clade clearly distinct from the other species. The pairwise genetic distance calculated further supported these findings. In addition, the results also should that the COI mtDNA gene is capable to unravel the phylogenetic relationship of H. leucospilota.

Keywords: Holothuria leucospilota; molecular systematics; partial sequences of cytochrome oxidase I gene; phylogeny tree

ABSTRAK

Holothuria (Mertensiothuria) leucospilota (Brandt 1835) atau nama tempatannya bat puntil kini dianggap sebagai spesies timun laut yang paling banyak taburannya di Malaysia. Kajian ini bertujuan untuk mendapatkan profil genetik H. leucospilota dan seterusnya menentukan perhubungan filogenetik antara H. leucospilota dari Malaysia dan ahli-ahli lain daripada genus Holothuria menggunakan jujukan separa gen sitokrom c oksidase I (COI) mitokondria DNA (mtDNA). Dalam kajian ini, spesimen H. leucospilota diperolehi dari Intan Besar Island, Langkawi, Kedah Darul Aman di pantai barat Semenanjung Malaysia. Tiga kaedah iaitu kaedah hubungkait jiran, parsimoni maksimum dan kaedah hubungkait maksimum telah digunakan untuk pembinaan pohon-pohon filogenetik Topologi pohon menunjukkan H. leucospilota mempunyai klusternya sendiri yang monofiletik yang jelas berbeza daripada spesies-spesies yang lain. Pengiraan jarak genetik secara berpasangan seterusnya telah menyokong keputusan-keputusan tersebut. Di samping itu, keputusan kini juga menunjukkan bahawa gen COI mtDNA mempunyai kapasiti untuk merungkaikan perhubungan filogenetik H. leucospilota.

Kata kunci: Sistematik molekul; Holothuria leucospilota; jujukan separa gen sitokrom c oksidase I mitokondria DNA, pohon filogen

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*Corresponding author; email: physique481@yahoo.co.uk