Biodiversity Patterns and DNA Barcode Gap Analysis of COI in Coastal Lagoons of Albania
Aquatic biodiversity includes a variety of unique species, their habitats, and their interactions with each other. Albania has a large hydrographic network including rivers, lakes, wetlands and coastal marine areas, contributing to a high level of aquatic biodiversity. Currently, evaluating aquatic...
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2024-11-01
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| author | Mariola Ismailaj Francesco Zangaro Valeria Specchia Franca Sangiorgio Francesca Marcucci Hajdar Kiçaj Alberto Basset Maurizio Pinna |
| author_facet | Mariola Ismailaj Francesco Zangaro Valeria Specchia Franca Sangiorgio Francesca Marcucci Hajdar Kiçaj Alberto Basset Maurizio Pinna |
| author_sort | Mariola Ismailaj |
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| description | Aquatic biodiversity includes a variety of unique species, their habitats, and their interactions with each other. Albania has a large hydrographic network including rivers, lakes, wetlands and coastal marine areas, contributing to a high level of aquatic biodiversity. Currently, evaluating aquatic biodiversity relies on morphological species identification methods, but DNA-based taxonomic identification could improve the monitoring and assessment of aquatic ecosystems. This study aims to evaluate the coverage of COI DNA barcodes in the reference libraries for the known aquatic animal species present in the coastal lagoons of Albania. In this study, the six most studied coastal lagoons of Albania were selected. Species data were gathered from the scientific literature and publicly available sites and studies. The collected species lists were taxonomically standardised using global public taxonomic databases like WORMS. The standardised lists were used to analyse the barcode gap of COI based on two public DNA barcode libraries: Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD) and NCBI GenBank. The results show that the COI DNA barcode gap in the coastal lagoons of Albania ranges from 7% (Lagoon of Patok) to 33% (Karavasta Lagoon). Fishes and Amphibia represent the groups with the lowest barcode gap (8% each), while Annelida shows the highest (47%). In conclusion, the COI gene marker for DNA-based biodiversity assessments is reliable for the coastal lagoons of Albania. |
| format | Article |
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| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-11-01 |
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| spelling | doaj-art-365f50563bbe4a79bb084cbdb5ad9b242025-08-20T02:07:58ZengMDPI AGBiology2079-77372024-11-01131195110.3390/biology13110951Biodiversity Patterns and DNA Barcode Gap Analysis of COI in Coastal Lagoons of AlbaniaMariola Ismailaj0Francesco Zangaro1Valeria Specchia2Franca Sangiorgio3Francesca Marcucci4Hajdar Kiçaj5Alberto Basset6Maurizio Pinna7Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Technologies, DiSTeBA, University of Salento, Via Monteroni 165, 73100 Lecce, ItalyDepartment of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Technologies, DiSTeBA, University of Salento, Via Monteroni 165, 73100 Lecce, ItalyDepartment of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Technologies, DiSTeBA, University of Salento, Via Monteroni 165, 73100 Lecce, ItalyDepartment of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Technologies, DiSTeBA, University of Salento, Via Monteroni 165, 73100 Lecce, ItalyDepartment of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Technologies, DiSTeBA, University of Salento, Via Monteroni 165, 73100 Lecce, ItalyDepartment of Biology, Faculty of Technical and Natural Sciences, University “Ismail Qemali” Vlore, L. Pavarësia, Rr. Kosova, 9400 Vlorë, AlbaniaDepartment of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Technologies, DiSTeBA, University of Salento, Via Monteroni 165, 73100 Lecce, ItalyDepartment of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Technologies, DiSTeBA, University of Salento, Via Monteroni 165, 73100 Lecce, ItalyAquatic biodiversity includes a variety of unique species, their habitats, and their interactions with each other. Albania has a large hydrographic network including rivers, lakes, wetlands and coastal marine areas, contributing to a high level of aquatic biodiversity. Currently, evaluating aquatic biodiversity relies on morphological species identification methods, but DNA-based taxonomic identification could improve the monitoring and assessment of aquatic ecosystems. This study aims to evaluate the coverage of COI DNA barcodes in the reference libraries for the known aquatic animal species present in the coastal lagoons of Albania. In this study, the six most studied coastal lagoons of Albania were selected. Species data were gathered from the scientific literature and publicly available sites and studies. The collected species lists were taxonomically standardised using global public taxonomic databases like WORMS. The standardised lists were used to analyse the barcode gap of COI based on two public DNA barcode libraries: Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD) and NCBI GenBank. The results show that the COI DNA barcode gap in the coastal lagoons of Albania ranges from 7% (Lagoon of Patok) to 33% (Karavasta Lagoon). Fishes and Amphibia represent the groups with the lowest barcode gap (8% each), while Annelida shows the highest (47%). In conclusion, the COI gene marker for DNA-based biodiversity assessments is reliable for the coastal lagoons of Albania.https://www.mdpi.com/2079-7737/13/11/951morphological identificationDNA-based methodsCOI barcodegap analysisgenetic libraries |
| spellingShingle | Mariola Ismailaj Francesco Zangaro Valeria Specchia Franca Sangiorgio Francesca Marcucci Hajdar Kiçaj Alberto Basset Maurizio Pinna Biodiversity Patterns and DNA Barcode Gap Analysis of COI in Coastal Lagoons of Albania Biology morphological identification DNA-based methods COI barcode gap analysis genetic libraries |
| title | Biodiversity Patterns and DNA Barcode Gap Analysis of COI in Coastal Lagoons of Albania |
| title_full | Biodiversity Patterns and DNA Barcode Gap Analysis of COI in Coastal Lagoons of Albania |
| title_fullStr | Biodiversity Patterns and DNA Barcode Gap Analysis of COI in Coastal Lagoons of Albania |
| title_full_unstemmed | Biodiversity Patterns and DNA Barcode Gap Analysis of COI in Coastal Lagoons of Albania |
| title_short | Biodiversity Patterns and DNA Barcode Gap Analysis of COI in Coastal Lagoons of Albania |
| title_sort | biodiversity patterns and dna barcode gap analysis of coi in coastal lagoons of albania |
| topic | morphological identification DNA-based methods COI barcode gap analysis genetic libraries |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2079-7737/13/11/951 |
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