Molecular marker-based species identification of carnivorous freshwater catfish (Wallago attu) from river Chenab, Pakistan

DNA barcoding, one of several procedures for identification of organisms, is an effective way to identify fish species. DNA-based identification is reliable and accurate to characterize an organism at different stages of its life cycle. Several reference libraries were used to link species by adding data to report species. For the sequencing of undetermined species, a customized primer was used. An unknown specimen was identified using a cytochrome c oxidase 1 primer. In this study, cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 was used to identify Wallago attu at the molecular level. After sequencing, the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 gene was fragmented into 380 base pair pieces. A molecular-based identification approach, which comprised a neighbor-joining tree to estimate divergence, was used in addition to morphological identification to identify and authenticate the species under investigation. The COI barcodes were morphologically identified and matched with reference sequences of anticipated species. The GenBank databases received species reports with the entry number MT476360. The study's findings suggested that DNA barcoding is a viable and successful method for fish identification and for establishing a reliable DNA barcode reference library for these species.