Designing primers for DNA barcoding is a significant challenge for the rich Neotropical fish fauna, which is comprised of ∼6000 species. Previously, researchers required multiple pairs of PCR primers or primer cocktails to obtain standard COI (i.e., mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I) barcode sequences from assemblages of freshwater fish in this region. To simplify DNA barcoding and metabarcoding studies of Neotropical freshwater fish, we present a new pair of COI primers, which have yielded high quality barcodes across six teleost orders—Characiformes, Cichliformes, Cyprinodontiformes, Gymnotiformes, Siluriformes, and Synbranchiformes—native to South America. Following previous fish barcoding studies, we also tailed our primers with M13 forward and reverse primers to facilitate the DNA sequencing process. Although this practice generates primer dimers, we obtained complete and high quality COI barcode sequences for all samples. We discuss the problem of primer dimers and suggest strategies for neutralizing their influence on data quality.

No abstract

The genome of the versicoloured emerald hummingbird (Amazilia versicolor) was partially sequenced in one-sixth of an Illumina HiSeq lane. The mitochondrial genome was assembled using MIRA and MITObim software, yielding a circular molecule of 16,861 bp in length and deposited in GenBank under the accession number KF624601. The mitogenome contained 13 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer tRNAs, 2 ribosomal RNAs and 1 non-coding control region. The molecule was assembled using 21,927 sequencing reads of 100 bp each, resulting in ∼130 × coverage of uniformly distributed reads along the genome. This is the forth mitochondrial genome described for this highly diverse family of birds and may benefit further phylogenetic, phylogeographic, population genetic and species delimitation studies of hummingbirds.

The complete mitochondrial genome of the Ruby-Topaz Hummingbird, Chrysolampis mosquitus, was determined using 1/11 of an Illumina Hi-seq lane ran with a Nextera kit. We assembled the mitogenome in a two-step approach using both (i) de novo (SOAPdenovo-Trans) and (ii) reference-based (MITObim) genome assembly software. A circular molecule containing 17,767 bp was assembled. As expected for most vertebrates, the C. mosquitus mitogenome contained 13 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer RNA, 2 ribosomal RNA genes, and 1 non-coding control region. We assembled the whole mitogenome using 0.45% of the total amount of reads and produced a high-coverage mitochondrial genome (>1000×). We deposited the assembled mitogenome into GenBank (accession number KJ619585).

No abstract