Abstract—Molecular markers can be identified via a DNA test regardless of the developmental stage, age, or environmental challenges experienced by the organism. The degree of conservation of sequence using the cytochrome b gene from mitochondrial DNA is sufficient to discriminate between closely related species. A partial DNA sequence of cytochrome b gene was used to investigate the molecular relationship between Epinephelus hexagonatus and Epinephelus fuscoguttatus. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and sequence analysis were used to determine the genetic variation in approximately 450-nucleotides region of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene in 160 fresh tissue samples. Phylogenetic trees were constructed using bioinformatic tools with ME method, NJ method and MP method with bootstrapping using arithmetic average method. There are no differences or only small differences were detected between these two taxa. The results showed that Epinephelus fuscoguttatus clustered with Epinephelus hexagonatus, based on the phylogenetic trees Epinephelus hexagonatus and Epinephelus fuscoguttatus consistently clustered together with following the suggestion referring on their morphological data, that they may be closely related, or possibly placed within the same species.

Index Terms—Cytochrome b, Epinephelus fuscoguttatus, Epinephelus hexagonatus, phylogenetic tree.

BBaharum S. N. and Nurdalila A. A. are with Institute of Systems Biology Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, UKM Bangi Selangor, Malaysia (Email: nataqain@ukm.my)

Cite: Baharum S. N.and Nurdalila A. A., "Phylogenetic Relationships of Epinephelus fuscoguttatus and Epinephelus hexagonatus Inferred from Mitochondrial Cytochrome b Gene Sequences using Bioinformatic Tools.," International Journal of Bioscience, Biochemistry and Bioinformatics vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 47-52, 2011.