The partial nucleotide sequences of 18S ribosomal RNA gene were amplified and determined for M.anguillicaudatus and M.albus
by PCR with four pairs of specific primers we designed. The 18S rRNA sequences of the two species are identical in length, and its length is 1 204 bp (They were deposited in the GenBank database under the accession Nos.EU120032 and EU120033, respectively). The GC content of 18S rRNA gene of M.anguillicaudatus was 53.74%, and the GC skew of that gene of M.albus was 0.082. Only four nucleotide substitutions were observed, accounting for 9967% identity between the two 18S rRNA sequences, whereas several changes were found in 18S rRNA sequences by comparison with homologues of S.salar (982% identity). The sequences of 18S rRNA gene were compared with those of four mitochondrial genes (12S rRNA, 16S rRNA, Cyt b and Dloop) in M.anguillicaudatus, M.albus and S.salar. We found that 18S rRNA gene was more conserved than other four genes within three species, and the evolutionary rate of the Dloop gene was the highest in five genes. The same DNA sequences of 4 other fishes and 11 chordate species were retrieved from GenBank, respectively. The phylogenetic trees (including three trees in fact) for 6 sequences of fishes were derived using 18S rRNA gene and three different analytical approaches: neighbourjoining (NJ), maximum parsimony (MP), and maximum likelihood (ML), and B.lanceolatum (AY428817)was used for the outgroup species. Another phylogenetic trees (including NJ, MP, and ML trees) for 13 animals belonging to Chordata were developed using the same gene
and methods. The phylogenetic analyses results strongly supported a sister group relationship for the cartilaginous fishes and bony fishes, and favored a fishes + tetrapods clade with high bootstap support values (≥92%). In addition, a kind of potential bias involving GC content of 18S rRNAs was discussed in metazoans.