Zeinolabedin Mohammadi; Alijan Tabarraei; Fatemeh Ghorbani; Asghar Khajeh; Haji Gholi Kami; Saeed Shahabi; Urban Olsson
Abstract
Background: Bats are potential reservoir hosts for vector-bornediseases that can transmit many bacterial and viral agents tohumans. Fruit bats are considered reservoirs of many virusesand they are of major importance in the medical sciences forcontrolling and preventing vector-borne diseases. This studyaimed ...
Read More
Background: Bats are potential reservoir hosts for vector-bornediseases that can transmit many bacterial and viral agents tohumans. Fruit bats are considered reservoirs of many virusesand they are of major importance in the medical sciences forcontrolling and preventing vector-borne diseases. This studyaimed to compare the morphological and genetic differences oftwo fruit bat species, Rousettus aegyptiacus and R. leschenaultiiin Iran, implying anessential need for taxonomic expertise inapplied medical sciences.Methods: In this experimental study, we collected and identified26 specimens of bats belonging to two fruit bat species from thesoutheast of Iran. The morphological and genetic differenceswere characterized between recently recorded migratory fruitbat R. leschenaultii and the morphologically similar and residentR. aegyptiacus. The haplotype network was generated usingthe program POPART. The nucleotide variation and populationdifferentiation were calculated in DNAsp. Furthermore, weconsidered additional records of 15 specimens from threewidespread bat species in the north of Iran.Results: Morphological characterization of two fruit batspecies showed R. aegyptiacus is larger than R. leschenaultiiin morphometric variables except tail length (TL) for bothsexes. The demographic analyses revealed that all haplotypesof R. leschenaulti formed a single haplogroup in the species’distributional range. In contrast, haplotypes of R. aegyptiacuswere divided into five haplogroups respecting taxa/localities. Theresults represent a strong signature of population expansion forthese two species of bats.Conclusion: Population of the fruit bats throughout their rangesin the Middle East may indicate an increased risk of the spread ofviral agents over time. Therefore, precise identification of hostsand vectors in applied medical sciences is essential to conductstandard procedures
Zeinolabedin Mohammadi; Saeed Shahabi; Fatemeh Ghorbani; Asghar Khajeh
Abstract
Background: Morphological and allozyme studies are not remarkably efficient in identification of cryptic and unknown species; therefore, the differences between intra-and interspecific genetic variation (DNA barcoding) have been applied in recent decades. Applying molecular markers has been common for ...
Read More
Background: Morphological and allozyme studies are not remarkably efficient in identification of cryptic and unknown species; therefore, the differences between intra-and interspecific genetic variation (DNA barcoding) have been applied in recent decades. Applying molecular markers has been common for identification of taxa, so that suitable marker choice representing high divergence is a crucial issue to reveal taxonomic status of the taxa in this approach. Methods: In this analytical study, the performance of two mitochondrial markers including cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) and cytochrome b (cyt b)was compared with nuclear recombination activating protein I locus(RAGI), and their efficiency in identification of mammal taxa as the host of zoonotic diseases was evaluated. The COI, cyt b, and RAGI sequences were retrieved from GenBank. Intra-and interspecific genetic distances were estimated and compared at the species level. The variances in genetic divergence were also calculated and compared between the markers. Results: Our results showed a wide gap between intra-and interspecific genetic distances for both COI and cyt b markers and less apparent gap for RAGI, indicating that this nuclear marker is less proper for species delimitation in DNA barcoding. Conclusion: We concluded that in the case of multiple sequences available COI, contributes to accurate differentiation at the species level, showing a significant gap between intra-and interspecific genetic distances and may play an important role as DNA barcoding marker.
