DNA BARCODING DETECTS THE PRESENCE OF Metapenaeus monoceros IN THE EGYPTIAN COASTS OF THE MEDITERRANEAN AND RED SEAS.  

Egyptian shrimps are poorly studied at the molecular levels. Shrimps are usually capable of occupation of different ecological niches through their migration. Suez canal is being considered as one of the most active passages for transporting different animal and plant species from the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea and vice versa. Hence, we aimed to use genetic identification for shrimp species in order to develop efficient tools for surveillance of shrimp species movements between the two seas.

We collected different shrimp samples from Suez (Red Sea) and Alexandria (Mediterranean Sea) in Egypt. DNA was extracted from the abdominal musculature. PCR was conducted using 50 ng of freshly extracted genomic DNA and universal Folmeret al. (2005) primers (LCO-1490 and HCO-2198) for amplification of invertebrate cytochrome oxidase 1 gene (COI). The sequences were compared for identity to species levels (≥98%) with their counterparts in both GenBank and BOLD database.

The results showed 99.51 % identity with the speckled shrimp Metapenaeus monoceros. Phylogenetic tree constructed using Tamura Nei Model of nucleotide substitution in the Maximum Likelihood method (Figure 1) confirmed more the similarity of the obtained Egyptian samples with other Metapenaeus species samples, being all clustered in the same branch and separated from other penaeid species. Investigation of the native range for M. monoceros showed that it belongs to South Asia, with few records in the Eastern Mediterranean and Southern (World Register of Marine Species) where it shows a good commercial value in the shrimp markets. The reason for its appearance cannot be clearly judged due to the shortage of available genetic data. The present study is the first genetic record for its presence in Egypt.