Metabarcoding Analysis of Ichthyoplankton in the East/Japan Sea Using the Novel Fish-Specific Universal Primer Set

The spatiotemporal distribution of fish larvae and eggs is fundamental for their reproduction recruitment in aquatic ecosystems. Here, a metabarcoding strategy was employed as an alternative to conventional ichthyoplankton survey, which requires considerable amount time, labor, cost. First, piscine-specific universal primer set (FishU) designed amplify the region, flanking highly conserved mitochondrial 12S 16S ribosomal genes, it optimized MiSeq platform. Based on both silico vitro analyses, newly FishU primers outperformed two previously reported fish-specific sets (ecoPrimer MiFish) taxon coverage, specificity, accuracy species identification. results by successfully presented diversity directly from zooplankton net samples East/Japan Sea, presenting more accurate plentiful numbers than those MiFish primers. Thus, analysis ichtyoplankton using promising tool obtaining useful data understand fish, such spawning sites, reproductive periods, population structures, feeding ecology, diet.