Research Article: Molecular genetic divergence of five genera of cypriniform fish in Iran assessed by DNA barcoding

The present study represents a comprehensive molecular assessment of some family of freshwater fishes in Iran. We analyzed cytochrome oxidase I (COI) sequences for five genus of cypriniform fishes from Iran. The present investigation provides data on genetic structure of some species of Nemachilidae including Paraschistura bampurensis, Oxynoemacheilus kiabii and Turcinemacheilus saadii and Leuciscine cyprinids Alburnoides bipunctatus and Alburnus alburnus from inland waters of Iran. The DNA sequences of the mitochondrial COI gene in all fishes were amplified, and the resulting sequences were compared to entries in GenBank using the Basic Local Alignment Search Tool for nucleotide data. Individuals were assigned to groups using COI gene sequence divergence analysis which was determined using Kimura 2parameter distances. Results revealed two major clusters which were inconsistent characterized by mediocre genetic divergence (mean 0.8%). The sequences of P. bampurensis showed that specimens collected from four rivers (Beshar, Khersan, Shapour and Fahlian Rivers, southwest of Iran), with 1.89% for Nemacheilian loaches and 0.8% for two Leuciscine cyprinids within-species Kimura two parameters distance, shared haplotype in Neighbor-joining (NJ) tree. Some clusters showed haplotype sharing, or low levels of divergence between species, hindering reliable identification. We discussed the importance of further DNA barcode studies for native and invasive cyprinid species and subsequent submission to GenBank databases for more reliable species match and inference.