Comparative Biochemical and Genetic Analysis of Two Species of Ghost Crabs, Ocypode rotundata and Ocypode ceratophthalmus from the Coast of Pakistan
Comparative Biochemical and Genetic Analysis of Two Species of Ghost Crabs, Ocypode rotundata and Ocypode ceratophthalmus from the Coast of Pakistan
Sahir Odhano1*, Michael S Rosenberg2, Noor Us Saher3, Guan Yang Zhang4 and Mustafa Kamal5
ABSTRACT
The present study focused on the taxonomic, biochemical, and molecular redescription of the genus Ocypode (Family Ocypodidae) from two localities of the Karachi, Sindh coast (Sandspit and Sonari) and one locality of Miani Hor, Balochistan (Sonmiani). The species belonging to the genus Ocypode are commonly known as ghost crabs. Previously, there was no such research conducted on biochemical and molecular studies. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis was used for the biochemical study to identify and quantify proteins and other enzymes by using seven markers: Coomassie brilliant blue (COM), creatine kinase (CK), carbonate dehydratase (CD), catalase (CAT), amylases (AMY), peroxidase (PXD) and octanol (OCT). The isozyme CD was revealed as a distinguishing marker between two species with significant differences (P=0.00), deviating from the hardy weinberg (HW) equilibrium. The fixation index (FST) was higher (53.3%) between the two species indicating species are distinct from each. The molecular study of the combined data set revealed both species belong to a highly supportive monophyletic clade with 100 bootstrap values by using maximum likelihood (ML), maximum parsimony (MP), and bayesian interference (BI). Genetic distance also showed a higher level of variation between the two species (5.5%). The current study revealed a significant finding regarding Ocypode rotundata with a higher intra-specific variation in isozyme (37% polymorphic loci) and molecular data (genetic distance = 0.7%), which needs further analysis on Ocypode rotundata. It is highly recommended that targeted species be collected from different localities of Pakistan coastline and more molecular markers be used like (28S, ITS-1 and ITS-2) to resolve this issue.
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