Molecular Analysis of the Mitochondrial Markers Coi, 12S Rdna and 16S Rdna for Six Species of Iranian Scorpions Publisher Pubmed



Soltanalinejad P^{1, 2} ; Rafinejad J³ ; Dabiri F² ; Onorati P⁴ ; Terenius O⁵ ; Chavshin AR^{1, 2}
Source: BMC Research Notes Published:2021

Abstract

Objectives: Annually, 1.2 million humans are stung by scorpions and severely affected by their venom. Some of the scorpion species of medical importance have a similar morphology to species with low toxicity. To establish diagnostic tools for surveying scorpions, the current study was conducted to generate three mitochondrial markers, Cytochrome Oxidase I (COI gene), 12S rDNA and 16S rDNA for six species of medically important Iranian scorpions: Androctonus crassicauda, Hottentotta saulcyi, Mesobuthus caucasicus, M. eupeus, Odontobuthus doriae, and Scorpio maurus. Results: Phylogenetic analyses of the obtained sequences corroborated the morphological identification. For the first time, 12S rDNA sequences are reported from Androctonus crassicauda, Hottentotta saulcyi, Mesobuthus caucasicus and M. eupeus and also the 16S rDNA sequence from Hottentotta saulcyi. We conclude that the mitochondrial markers are useful for species determination among these medically important species of scorpions. © 2021, The Author(s).