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Discriminating Dabry’s sturgeon (Acipenser dabryanus) and Chinese sturgeon (A. sinensis) based on DNA barcode and six nuclear markers

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An Erratum to this article was published on 28 September 2015

Abstract

Both Dabry’s sturgeon (Acipenser dabryanus) and Chinese sturgeon (A. sinensis) are rare fish and listed as first class protected animals in China. Nowadays, an artificial release program has been established as a main way to maintain and restore their wild populations. Unintentional interspecific hybridization of these two sturgeons might occur because of their close relationship. To ensure the purity of germplasm, Dabry’s sturgeon and Chinese sturgeon must be identified before releasing. Owing to their highly similar morphological characteristics, it is difficult to discriminate the two sturgeon species based on morphology in their larval and juvenile stages. Moreover, it is almost impossible to discriminate their hybrids based on morphology. Therefore, we established a new molecular approach to discriminate Dabry’s sturgeon and Chinese sturgeon based on mitochondrial DNA barcode and six nuclear markers (three nuclear genes (TYR, GHR, and RAG2) and three SNP markers (SNP21564, SNP28822, and SNP12974) in this study. These two sturgeons were explicitly distinguished from other sturgeon species using the DNA barcode and three nuclear genes. Further, the two species were accurately discriminated using the three SNP markers. We concluded through blind laboratory trials involving 95 individuals that our method is 100% reliable in distinguishing between the two species.

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Acknowledgments

The work was supported by the Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University (No. NCET-11-0347) and China Three Gorges Corporation (No. XJB/1294). We would like to thank Professor Wenxuan Cao for his advice on the study and help on morphological identification during sample collecting. We are also grateful to the Yinbin Rare Aquatic Animal Institute, the Yangtze River Fisheries Research Institute, the Chinese Sturgeon Research Institute, Jinsha River Xiluodu Xiangjiaba Hydropower Station of Rare and Unique Fish Multiplication Station, Chengdu Rixing Special Aquatic Product Testing Center in Pengzhou, and Runzhao Fisheries Co., Ltd. in Pengzhou for providing the samples of the different sturgeons, Mr. Ye Yuan and Zhiying Zhang in Bureau of Aquatic Products in Sichuan Province for their help during sample collecting, and Dr. Peter S. Rand for his revision of English writing.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sichuan Key Laboratory of Conservation Biology on Endangered Wildlife, College of Life Sciences, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610065, People’s Republic of China

    Jiuxuan Li, Dongqi Liu, Qingzhan Ma, Xiuyue Zhang & Zhaobin Song

  2. Key Laboratory of Bio-Resources and Eco-Environment of Ministry of Education, College of Life Sciences, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610065, People’s Republic of China

    Xiuyue Zhang & Zhaobin Song

  3. China Three Gorges Corporation, Beijing, 100038, People’s Republic of China

    Wei Dai & Yongbo Chen

  4. Jinsha River Xiluodu Xiangjiaba Hydropower Station of Rare and Unique Fish Multiplication Station, Yibin, 644612, People’s Republic of China

    Yong Liu

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  1. Jiuxuan Li
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Correspondence to Zhaobin Song.

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Li, J., Liu, D., Ma, Q. et al. Discriminating Dabry’s sturgeon (Acipenser dabryanus) and Chinese sturgeon (A. sinensis) based on DNA barcode and six nuclear markers. Hydrobiologia 757, 185–196 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-015-2251-z

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