In addition to significant economic losses, rodents are also have a major role in the transmission and spread of infectious diseases. Great gerbils (Rhombomys opimus) as one of the rodents, are the main reservoir hosts of Yersinia bacteria (causative agent of plague), Leishmania major and CCHF (Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever) virus. Furthermore, identification of rodents is very difficult mainly due to high similarities in morphology between different species. In this study mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) was used as DNA barcode to identify different populations of Rhombomys opimus species distributed in Iran. For this purpose, blood samples from 9 populations of the great gerbil were collected. DNA extracted from blood by using phenol-chloroform method. COI amplification primers were RACOI-F and RACOI-R. The products were evaluated in terms of size with SSCP (Single strand conformation polymorphism). The PCR products of different samples, were directly sequenced. The results of sequencing showed that genetic distance values of the intraspecies comparisons between populations (in the range of 0.004 to 0.069) were generally lower than interspecies comparison (in the range of 0.22 to 0.27). Therefore, we conclude that COI markers could be potentially used as DNA barcode for rapid identification of great gerbil in order to disease prevention management.
