DNA barcoding of Lake Tanganyika cichlids

Category: 
Pilot project
Acronym: 
DBCLTC
Coordinator: 
Jos Snoeks (RMCA)
JEMU partner: 
JEMU team
Project summary: 
Cichlid fishes are much studied, but despite this the taxonomy remains unstable and many species await description. Hybridisation and incomplete lineage sorting are expected to affect the succes rate of DNA barcoding with mt-genes. The project aims at establishing a DNA barcoding database for the cichlid fauna of Lake Tanganyika (LT). DNA barcodes will be analysed to establish if DNA barcoding is a usefull tool for identifying LT cichlid fishes.
Collaborations: 
Maarten VanSteenbergen (KUL/RMCA), Sara Loix (MSc student KUL)
Lab work progress: 
Completed: DNA extracted, sequencing finished. A total of 401 sequences has been sequenced representing 99 morphospecies.
Data analysis: 
Completed
Starting date: 
2010
Project status: 
Completed

Output:
Peer-reviewed paper:

Breman FC, Loix S, Jordaens K, Snoeks J, Van Steenberge M, 2016, Testing the potential of DNA barcoding in vertebrate radiations: the case of the littoral cichlids (Pisces, Perciformes, Cichlidae) from Lake Tanganyika, Molecular Ecology Resources, 16, 1455–1464. doi:10.1111/1755-0998.12523.

Scratchpads developed and conceived by (alphabetical): Ed Baker, Katherine Bouton Alice Heaton Dimitris Koureas, Laurence Livermore, Dave Roberts, Simon Rycroft, Ben Scott, Vince Smith