The comparative molecular study between Bombycidae and Saturniidae based on mtDNA RFLP and cytochrome oxidase I gene sequences: implication for molecular evolution.

The phylogenetic relationships between Bombyx mori and Bombyx mandarina species of Bombycidae, and Antheraea yamamai and Antheraea pernyi species of Saturniidae were investigated based on mtDNA RFLP and cytochrome oxidase I gene. The sizes of the mtDNA of all the species were estimated at approximately 16 kbp +/- 500 bp by total length of all the restricted fragments and no variation in size was recognized. Of the fourteen different restriction endonucleases used, BamHI, HindIII, PstI, EcoRI and XbaI showed RFLP. Among these, only HindIII showed RFLP between B. mori and B. mandarina. A comparative analysis of sequences was also conducted with the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I genes of each species. The results indicated that B. mori shared a 97%, 85% and 87% sequence identity with B. mandarina, A. yamamai and A. pernyi, respectively. B. mandarina shared a 87% and 88% sequence identity with A. yamamai and A. pernyi, respectively. A. yamamai shared 92% sequence identity with A. pernyi. The results of the phylogenetic analysis exhibited monophyly and confidence limits of more than 99% in all trees for both Bombycidae and Saturniidae.