Genetic identification of Rattus norvegicus (Berkenhout, 1769) on the uninhabited Sasudo island provides accurate information on invasive species

In the Republic of Korea, the uninhabited Sasudo island is well known as a breeding ground for seabirds; however, it is seriously threatened by the predation of invasive rats.Here, we analyzed the mtDNA CYTB gene sequence to identify the species of invasive rats captured on Sasudo island from August 2015 to May 2016.The CYTB sequence of the three invasive rats on Sasudo island was 1048 bp long.BLAST analysis showed 99.81-100% homology with the R. norvegicus and a monophyletic pattern in the phylogenetic tree.These results indicate that the rats found on Sasudo island belong to the species R. norvegicus.This study is the first to provide accurate species information and explain the invasion of R. norvegicus on Sasudo island through genetic identification.We conclude that genetic species identification provides reliable information regarding invasive species.This information can be used as basic data for managing invasive species to protect island biological resources.