VARIASI GENETIK DAN FILOGENETIK BURUNG GOSONG FILIPINA (Megapodius Cumingii) BERDASARKAN GEN NADH DEHIDROGENASE SUBUNIT 2 (ND2) MITOKONDRIA

Central Sulawesi is one of the provinces in Indonesia with high avian diversity, including the Philippine scrubfowl (Megapodius
cumingii). This species belongs to the family Megapodiidae and is distributed in the Philippines, parts of eastern Borneo, and several small
islands in Indonesia. This study aimed to analyze the genetic variation and phylogenetic relationships of Megapodius cumingii from Poat Island
based on sequences of the mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 (ND2) gene. Genomic DNA extracted from blood samples of the
Philippine scrubfowl was isolated using the gSYNC™ DNA Extraction Kit (Geneaid), amplified using the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)
method with primers L5145 (forward) and H6394 (reverse), and visualized by 1% agarose gel electrophoresis. The PCR products were purified
using the QIAquick PCR Purification Kit. Sequence data were analyzed using BLAST for species confirmation, DnaSP v6.12.03 for genetic
variation analysis, and MEGA 11 for phylogenetic tree reconstruction using the Maximum Likelihood and Neighbor-Joining methods. The
results showed that the 1.072 base pair ND2 gene sequences generated three haplotypes, with a haplotype diversity value of 0.667 and a
nucleotide diversity of 0.00249. The nucleotide base composition of the ND2 gene was dominated by A+T (52.03%) compared to G+C
(47.95%). Phylogenetic tree reconstruction using both methods produced consistent topologies, in which all Megapodius cumingii samples
from Poat Island formed a monophyletic clade with high bootstrap support, indicating strong and stable genetic relationships.