Project:

Assemblage of the mitochondrial genome of an unknown planarian species from the Andes and its phylogenetic comparison with tempe

Students:

Erika Yick, Leo Lee

Institution:

St. John's University,

Mentors:

Juan C Santos

Abstract:

Using NGS RNA sequencing, the genomic sequencing of different species has reached a new level. Within the mitochondrial genome is the COX1 gene, which we will use to compare an unknown planarian species from the Andes with other planarians available from temperate and lowland regions. These taxa include ten other planarians already sequenced with their data deposited in GenBank to create maximum likelihood phylogeny trees using IQTREE software. After building the phylogenies, we will compare the mt genome versus COX1 gene by calculating the Robinson-Foulds topological distance between the two phylogenies. We expect to discover the sequence of the entire mt-genome of this unknown planarian species, isolate its complete COX1 gene to perform phylogenetic analysis, and find this unknown planarian’s evolutionary relationships with the other species sourced from the GenBank.

Poster:

Team samples: