Morphological and Molecular Characterization of Cyclopoid Copepod in and around Coimbatore Lakes Using 18s rRNA Analysis

Published ecological research on the variety and distribution of freshwater planktonic cyclopoid copepods rely on DNA techniques for precise taxonomic identification. Large-scale investigations of plankton identification using molecular techniques are now more practical due to the increased coverage of reference species in the genetic database GenBank and the falling prices for DNA sequencing. Here, we offer a useful morphological and molecular method for identifying Mesocyclops aspericornis, M. dissimilis, M. pehpiensis, Thermocyclopsdecipiens, and T. hyalinus, which were found in Coimbatore, India, at the Sulur, Singanallur, Ukkadam, and Muthanna lakes. A microscope was used to observe morphological identification. Amplification of 18S rRNA was one technique used for cyclopoids' molecular identification. The evolutionary relationship between 5 species of freshwater cyclopoid copepods is the focus of the current study on molecular phylogenetic analysis. The findings revealed that there was no interpopulation variation in the 18S rRNA molecules of M. dissimilis, M. pehpiensis, T. decipiens, and T. hyalinus. It is intriguing to look at genetic distances within and across taxa to see if a particular group of cyclopoids has diverged, on average, more or less than others. The greatest genetic divergence among cyclopoid taxa was caused by the extreme variance in M. aspericornis, which was more than twice as high as the other cyclopoids. Finally, during the investigation, T. hyalinus was discovered for the first time in the lakes of Coimbatore, India.