Mitochondrial DNA sequence-based identification of two subterranean termite species, from Riyadh Province, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Mitochondrial DNA of C. heimi and P. hypostoma

Authors

  • Ghulam Rasool Khawaja Plant Protection Department, College of Food and Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, P.O. Box 2460, Riyadh 11451
  • MUREED Husain King Saud University
  • Mostafa Rezk Sharaf Plant Protection Department, College of Food and Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, P.O. Box 2460, Riyadh 11451
  • Muhammad Tufail Ghazi University, Dera Ghazi Khan, Punjab, Pakistan
  • Koko Dwi Sutanto Plant Protection Department, College of Food and Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, P.O. Box 2460, Riyadh 11451
  • Waleed Saleh Alwaneen Advanced Agricultural & Food Technologies Institute, King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), Riyadh, 11442, Saudi Arabia
  • Abdulrahman Saad Aldawood Plant Protection Department, College of Food and Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, P.O. Box 2460, Riyadh 11451

Keywords:

Termites, Rhinotermitidae, DNA barcoding, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Termites are economically important wood-destroying and agricultural pests. The termite fauna almost consists of 2900 described species in 286 genera worldwide. In the present study, hundreds of termite samples from 42 different locations in the Riyadh province were collected. These samples were previously used for morphometric identification and reported two subterranean termite species, Coptotermes heimi and Psammotermes hypostoma, in the family Rhinotermitidae. In the present study, these samples were analysed using DNA barcoding with the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 gene to confirm the conventional taxonomical identification on a molecular basis. The obtained COI gene sequences of all 42 termite specimens were submitted to GenBank (accession numbers: ON529959-ON529969, OP825131-OP825132, and OP890882-OP890910). Eleven of the 42 samples were thus identified as C. heimi and the remaining 31 samples as P. hypostoma, which were phylogenetically analysed. All the 11 C. heimi sequences were grouped in a single clade, indicating close relatedness. While 31 sequences of P. hypostoma constituted two clades in the phylogenetic tree. Pairwise nucleotide sequence identity and divergence analysis showed that C. heimi sequences showed high nucleotide identities of 87.6-99.5% and less divergence ranging from 0.5% to 13.6%. Similarly, sequences of P. hypostoma also showed high nucleotide identity of 78.6-100% and low divergence among them ranging from 0-10.7%. A further application, significance, and shortcomings of COI-based DNA barcoding have been discussed. DNA barcoding using the COI gene is a reliable tool to distinguish C. heimi and P. hypostoma genotypes.

Published

2024-10-31

Issue

Section

Original Research Articles