The evolutionary relationship of snakes suggested by the sequences of CYT B and 12S RRNA gene fragmented from snake crude drugs

Ultimo aggiornamento Domenica 21 Novembre 2010 22:24

The evolutionary relationship of snakes suggested by the sequences of CYT B and 12S RRNA gene fragmented from snake crude drugs

(di Yiquan Wang, Kaija Zhou, Loushan Xu, Guang Yang and Goujun Xu -Division of Pharmacognosy, China Pharmaceutical University, 210009 Nanjing, China - Biodiversity and Molecular Evolution Research Laboratory, Nanjing Normal University, 210097 Nanjing, China)

DNA was extracted from both dried muscles of snake crude drugs and frozen muscle samples of snakes, and Cyt b and 12S RRNA gene fragments were amplified from the extracts by the PCR method.

Using the silver staining DNA sequencing method, the sequence data of Cyt b and 12S RRNA gene fragments of 12 species from 25 individuals were obtained.

The molecular data were analysed using the MEGA program.

The phylogenetic trees indicated that Elaphe had a close relationships with Zaocys, while Dinodon and Sinonatrix were grouped together.

Elaphe was a highly differentiated genus; at least, it could be divided into two groups.

One group consist of Elaphe moellendorffi and Elaphe taeniura, and the other Elaphe rufodorsata, Elaphe mandarina, Elaphe bimaculata, Elaphe schrencki and Elaphe carinata.

The second group might consist of two subgroup; Elaphe schrencki and Elaphe carinata subgroup, and Elaphe rufodorsata, Elaphe mandarina, Elaphe bimaculatasubgroup.

Our results showed that sequence data obtained from snake crude drugs were identical with those frozen samples.