MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTER AND MOLECULAR IDENTIFICATION WITH COI GENE MARKER OF HORSESHOE CRABS (Tachypleus gigas) AT COASTAL WATERS OF NORTHERN JAVA ISLAND
Authors: Meilana Lusita , Wardiatno Yusli , Butet Nurlisa A , Krisanti Majariana 
Published: October 2017

<p><em>The existence of </em><em>h</em><em>orseshoe crabs </em><em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Tachypleus</span></em><em> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">gigas</span></em><em> is </em><em>currently</em><em> on the threatened condition</em><em> and its population status is also </em><em>unclear. The</em><em> objectives of this </em><em>research </em><em>were</em><em> </em><em>to</em><em> </em><em>asses</em><em> the horseshoe crabs morphological characters and </em><em>to identify </em><em>based on molecular marker of Cytochrome Oxydase Subunit I </em><em>(</em><em>COI</em><em>)</em><em> gene</em><em>.</em><em> The sample</em><em>s</em><em> </em><em>were </em><em>collect</em><em>ed from</em><em> five </em><em>locations (</em><em>Segara Menyan Subang, Ujung Kulon Banten, </em><em>Tambak Lorok </em><em>Semarang, </em><em>Betah Walang </em><em>Demak, </em><em>and</em><em> Kenjeran Surabaya</em><em>) in </em><em>October 2014 until June 2015. A total of 27 parameters</em><em> </em><em>for</em><em> 62 individuals</em><em> </em><em>were </em><em>used to determine connectivity and character identifier</em><em> among populations</em><em>. Data were tested using non-parametric analysis. </em><em>While, </em><em>the 5 individuals from each sites were used for molecular analysis including </em><em>several stages </em><em>of the </em><em>DNA extraction, DNA electrophoresis, amplification and visualization of DNA fragments, </em><em>and </em><em>DNA sequencing</em><em>.</em><em> The results obtained based on morphological characters that </em><em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">T.</span></em><em> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">gigas</span> of Surabaya formed a unique group due to its body size (X1-X2 and X4-X16) was larger than the other 5 body parts (X22, X23, X26-X28) of Semarang, Demak, Subang, and Banten</em><em>. </em><em>According to molecular results, </em><em>there were 650 bp </em><em>conserve </em><em>nucleotide sequences</em><em>. </em><em>Analysis using software MEGA 5.0 showed that </em><em>there were 73 </em><em>existence of</em><em> specific nucleotide sites</em><em> that can be used to </em><em>distinguishes between <span style="text-decoration: underline;">T.</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">gigas</span> in-groups  and out-groups (<span style="text-decoration: underline;">T.</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">gigas</span> from Central Arabian Sea, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">T.</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">tridentatus</span> from Sweden, and <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Carcinoscorpius</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">rotundicauda</span> from USA).</em><em></em></p><p><strong><em>Keywords:</em></strong><em> </em><em>horseshoe crabs</em><em>, </em><em>Java coast</em><em>, </em><em>morphology</em><em>, </em><em>identification molecular</em><em>, </em><em>CO1 gene.</em></p>