DNA barcoding of seven cone snail species from Red Sea coast of Egypt

Cone snails are venomous predators comprising ~950 species widely distributed in different marine habitats. The production of bioactive molecules (known as conopeptides or conotoxins) marks the Conus as an utmost promising animal source for medicinal applications. This reflects the need for quick and reliable proof of the studied species’ identity. However, identification based on morphological characters has limitations and necessitates complementation with molecular techniques. DNA barcoding based on the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) is currently used as a quick and reliable tool for species identification throughout the globe. The primary objective of this study is to establish reference sequences for Conus species from the Egyptian Red Sea coast, and to evaluate the capacity of DNA barcodes for specimen’ identification. The results of the present study revealed that COI sequences were matched for their maximum identity with those available in the GenBank and BOLD engine and gave matches to Conus species for all studied species (100% match rate). In all cases, DNA analyses were consistent with species classification based on shell characters. According to the phylogenetic tree, all Conus species were recovered as monophyletic and the seven studied species of Conus were well nested in seven separate clades/subclades with closely related species. In conclusion, our study successfully confirms the efficiency of DNA barcoding for specimen identification of different cone snails. Such analytical tool offers great chances for exploring Conus species to better evaluate their status in the Egyptian Red Sea coast, and more generally along the whole Red Sea coast.