Genetic Characterization of a Pupper fish (Lagocephalus lunaris) from Sabah

Lim Wand Suan, Samsur Mohammad & Yuzine b. Esa

Faculty of Resource Science and Technology, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak 94300 Kota Samarahan, Sarawak * Email: eyuzine@frst.unimas.my

ABSTRACT This study examines the genetic characteristic of Lagocephalus lunaris, an important indigenous puffer fish species in Sabah. The sequence analyses were carried out using 450 base pairs of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene. A total of 60 samples were collected from two locations in the coastal areas of Sabah; Kudat (Pulau Mandi Darah) and Tawau. Phylogenetic analyses were done using two methods, Neighbor-joining (NJ) and Maximum Parsimony (PM). The result of phylogenetic analysis indicated the presence of two clusters of puffer fish; one consisted of sequences only from Kudat, whereas another cluster consisted of sequences from Tawau and a single sequence from Kudat. A total of 9 haplotypes were found, with only one haplotype (H4) being shared between the two populations. The results also showed the presence of limited genetic variation among the two populations. Overall, this study indicated the potential of using cyt b mtDNA gene in detection of small genetic variation, or synonymous substitution between populations. Key words: Lagocephalus Lunaris, puffer fish, mtDNA cytochrome b, genetic variation.
Population
(1) Pulau Mandi Darah, Kudat n=29 (2) Tawau n=29

1. H1 2. H2 3. H3 4. H4 5. H5 6. H6 7. H7 8. H8 9. H9

0.8965 0.0345 0.0345 0.0345 1.0

0.0345 0.0345 0.7930 0.0345 0.0345 0.0690 1.0

6 0.31773 0.00089 4

Figure 1: Sampling location in two populations in East Coast of Sabah. Population 1 from Kudat and population 2 from Tawau

No. of haplotype (pi) Haplotype diversity, Hd Nucleotide diversity No. of polymorphic site

4 0.19951 0.00538 28

H6 H7 H9
99 H8

Cluster 1 Tawau

H4
100 69 H5

H3
100

H1

Cluster 2 Kudat L. sceleratus O. cubicus

64 H2

AY267356.1 AY267357.1

0.02

Neighbour-joining (NJ) tree