Molecular identification and Phylogenetic relationship of fishes belonging to the Family Danionidae from Brahmaputra Basin, Assam, Northeast India

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Abstract Backgroud The Northeast India, being part of two global biodiversity hotspot namely the Indo-Burma and Eastern Himalayan Hotspot supports a wide variety of rich aquatic biodiversity including fishes. The family Danionidae is a widely diverse group inhabiting the upper colder stretches of river although few are abundant in the lower stretches also. The persisting similarity in the morphological appearance and body colouration within the members of this family seeks an integrated method to identify the species correctly. Methods and results In the present study, the mt-DNA barcode was generated for correct identification and confirmation of the species. A total of nine mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene sequences were generated for each species under the study. The pairwise distance calculated with the help of MEGA 11 softwareresulted distance value ranging from 0.1% to 0.4% within the species and 9.02% to 32.83% between the species. A neighbour-joining tree was constructed based on the Kimura 2 parameter model.Two major group were observed where Danioninae formed sister group to the Chedrinae and Rasborinae. Conclusion The present study is a preliminary approach to document and identify the species under the family Danionidae from Brahmaputra basin, Assam,using molecular tools and establish thephylogenetic relationship.