The origin of the Tibetan Mastiff and species identification of Canis based on mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene and COI barcoding

Abstract

DNA barcoding is an effective technique to identify species and analyze phylogenesis and evolution. However, research on and application of DNA barcoding in Canis have not been carried out. In this study, we analyzed two species of Canis, Canis lupus (n 5 115) and Canis latrans (n 5 4), using the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene (1545 bp) and COI barcoding (648 bp DNA sequence of the COI gene). The results showed that the COI gene, as the moderate variant sequence, applied to the analysis of the phylogenesis of Canis members, and COI barcoding applied to species identification of Canis members. Phylogenetic trees and networks showed that domestic dogs had four maternal origins (A to D) and that the Tibetan Mastiff originated from Clade A; this result supports the theory of an East Asian origin of domestic dogs. Clustering analysis and networking revealed the presence of a closer relative between the Tibetan Mastiff and the Old English sheepdog, Newfoundland, Rottweiler and Saint Bernard, which confirms that many well-known large breed dogs in the world, such as the Old English sheepdog, may have the same blood lineage as that of the Tibetan Mastiff.

DNA barcoding of three species ( Canis aureus, Canis lupus and Vulpes vulpes ) of Canidae

“…According to the results of Hebert et al (2003b), the divergence of COI barcode sequences among the 13,320 congeneric species pairs within 11 animal phyla ranged from 0.0% to 53.7%. The mean interspecific divergences were found to be between 5.8% and >100% in mammals (Borisenko et al 2008;Cai et al 2011;Li et al 2011;Alvarez-Castañeda et al 2012;Bondoc 2013;Echi et al 2013), although the mean interspecific divergences ranged from 4.41% to 47% in other animals such as lepidopterans (Hajibabaei et al 2006b), marine polychaetes, (Maturana et al 2011) and freshwater fish (Ward et al 2005;Lara et al 2010). In this study, the mean intraspecific divergence (0.61%) fell within the mean divergence ranges previously found in other mammal groups (Lorenz et al 2005;Clare et al 2007;Borisenko et al 2008;Cai et al 2011).…”

“…When we examined the specific barcoding region of the mitochondrial COI gene (from 58 bp to 705 bp, 648 bp) (Hebert et al 2003a,b;Hebert et al 2004;Li et al 2011), we found only one variable (polymorphic) site and 647 invariable (monomorphic) sites in the seven Turkish golden jackals. Two haplotypes were found in the seven COI barcoding sequences.…”

“…There are a considerable amount of DNA barcoding studies on the animal kingdom, such as bovids (Cai et al 2011), primates (Lorenz et al 2005;Hajibabaei et al 2006a), bats (Clare et al 2007), other mammals (Borisenko et al 2008;Li et al 2011;Alvarez-Castañeda et al 2012;Bondoc 2013;Echi et al 2013;Bondoc et al 2014), lepidopterans (Hajibabaei et al 2006b;Mutanen et al 2015), marine polychaetes (Maturana et al 2011), fishes (Ward et al 2005;Lara et al 2010) and birds (Kerr et al 2007). Based on COI barcode sequences, mammals show a higher mean intraspecific divergence values compared to that of other animal groups.…”

“…Based on the COI sequences of different lengths (696 bp and 740 bp), a total of eight haplotypes were determined in the 37 COI barcoding sequences (from 58 bp to 705 bp, 648 bp: Hebert et al 2003aHebert et al ,b, 2004Li et al 2011) of the Turkish red foxes. Haplotype and nucleotide diversities were Hd: 0.8018 (47.62%) and Pi: 0.00916, respectively.…”

“…Based on the COI barcoding sequences (from 58 bp to 705 bp, 648 bp) (Hebert et al 2003a;Li et al 2011), six haplotypes were found in the 13 sequences. Haplotype and nucleotide diversities were Hd: 0.8590 (85.9%) and Pi: 0.01155, respectively.…”