DNA barcoding of five benthic invertebrate taxa from the Mackellar Cove of the Antarctic Peninsula

• Main Author: Merino Valencia, Norma Mároli
• Other Authors: Sotil Caycho, Giovanna Elizabeth
• Format: Bachelor Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Universidad Científica del Sur 2020
• Subjects: Benthos; COI; 16S; 18S; 28S; Nucleotide diversity; https://purl.org/pe-repo/ocde/ford#1.06.00; https://purl.org/pe-repo/ocde/ford#1.06.12; Antarctic; The Antarctic; Antarctic Peninsula; Nacella; Mackellar; Antarc*; Antarctica; Euphausia superba
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12805/1604; https://doi.org/10.21142/tb.2020.1604

The Antarctic ecosystem presents benthic organisms with unique spatial and demographic distribution and exceptional adaptations to extreme conditions; however, the genetic diversity it hosts is little known. In order to characterize the molecular diversity of 25 benthic invertebrates collected in the Mackellar Cove during the Peruvian expedition ANTAR XXIV-2017, we analyzed nucleotide sequences obtained from the mitochondrial genes COI, ARNr 16S, and nuclear ARNr 18S and 28S (for molluscs). A morphological description of the 5 taxa between molluscs, bryozoans, polychaetes and crustaceans was made. The nucleotide sequences were recorded in open access databases (BOLD and GenBank) as Margarella antarctica (A1-A5), Nacella concinna (A11-A15), Nematoflustra flagellata (A16-A20), Amphitrite kerguelensis (A21-A25) and Euphausia superba (A26-A30).