Genetics of oil beetles (Meloe, Coleoptera) in silico : A tribute to Schrank von Paula [1747–1835], 1776

Gyulai, Gábor Zs. and Malone, Renée P. and Gyulai, Gábor and Murenetz, Lilla and Szőke, Antal and Tóth-Lencsés, K.A. (2025) Genetics of oil beetles (Meloe, Coleoptera) in silico : A tribute to Schrank von Paula [1747–1835], 1776. ECOCYCLES, 11 (2). pp. 35-42. ISSN 2416-2140

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Abstract

Oil beetles (genus Meloe, order Coleoptera) comprise over 150 species with 55 entries in GenBank to date. One of the first Meloe species was described by Linné, K. [1707–1771] M. proscarabaeus (black oil beetle) applying the early theory of Bauhin, C. [1560–1624] who suggested first the use of binomial nomenclature to describe plant and animal species. After Linné, further Meloe species were described, e.g., M. hungarus identified by Paula Schrank [1747–1835] 1776, working in city Selmecbánya, Hungarian Kingdom, Europe. Here we analyze sequences of DNA of mitogenomes (mtDNA), genes and proteins of Meloe species based on in silico data mining, sequence and cladogram analyses to reveal new phylogenetic and molecular relationships among and within Meloe species. A protein cladogram of NADH dehydrogenase subunit5 (mtDNA, 577 aa) of Meloe species revealed that M. proscarabaeus shows the closest similarity to M. poggii at the highest bootstrap (100) level. In the analysis of complete mtDNA genomes (16.154 DNA bp each) the oil beetle species of the three main genera of Meloe, Epicauta and Hycleus were discriminated sharply at high (95-100) bootstrap levels which result may provide a direct marker for molecular identification of oil beetles. In the analysis of nuclear wingless gene (wg) sequences (514 DNA bp each), and cladogram analysis the two species of M. proscarabaeus and Mylabris amorii showed distinct clade, which indicated multifunctional roles of wg genes in oil beetles. The survey of a biochemical marker revealed that not only oil beetles but plants, e.g., Butea frondosa (flame-of-the-forest) tropical tree (Fabaceae), contains cantharidin (C10H12O4; MW: 196.2 g/mol) and a related compound palasonin (i.e., demethylcantharidin; C9H10O4; MW: 182.17 g/mol) (https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov).

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