Divergence of Salvelinus species from northeastern Asia based on mitochondrial DNA

Abstract

-Phylogenetic analysis of charrs of the genus Salvelinus was performed using PCR-RFLP analysis of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). Three fragments of mtDNA (ND1/ND2, ND5/ND6 and Cyt b/D-loop) were amplified by PCR and examined for restriction site variation using 13 restriction endonucleases. Analysis of 313 sites of over 7672 bp of charr mtDNA was conducted. Six phylogenetic lineages of the mtDNA were revealed, corresponding to six separate charr taxa: Salvelinus leucomaenis Pallas; Salvelinus levanidovi Chereshnev, Skopetz & Gudkov; Salvelinus taranetzi Kaganovsky; Salvelinus malma krascheninnikovi Taranetz; Salvelinus malma malma Walbaum and Salvelinus alpinus alpinus. The Levanidov (S. levanidovi) and white-spotted (S. leucomaenis) charrs represented the most divergent lineages. These are probably closest to a common ancestor of the genus. Salvelinus taranetzi was the next divergent lineage. Salvelinus malma krascheninnikovi was placed between S. leucomaenis and S. taranetzi. Salvelinus malma malma and S. a. alpinus were sister taxa, and were on the last branch to diverge. The divergence between S. m. malma and S. a. alpinus inferred from mtDNA nucleotide sequences was 1.1%; between S. m. malma and S. taranetzi 2.8%; between S. m. malma and S. m. krascheninnikovi 4%; between S. taranetzi, S. m. krascheninnikovi and S. a. alpinus 2.8%. Salvelinus levanidovi and S. leucomaenis were almost equally remote from the other charrs by some 9% and 7%, respectively. The extent of genetic differences between the northern S. m. malma populations and the European S. a. alpinus populations indicates that they diverged recently. The existence of many putative charr species with different divergence times in northeastern Asia suggests that this region may be one of the centres of speciation of the genus Salvelinus.

Biodiversity of arctic marine fishes: taxonomy and zoogeography

“…The five Oncorhynchus species of the North Pacific and Salmo salar of the North Atlantic spend periods of 1-6 years at sea before returning to natal streams to spawn. Recent molecular genetic studies (e.g., Brunner et al 2001;Oleinik et al 2004Oleinik et al , 2007Taylor et al 2008) have helped resolve char taxonomy and phylogeny, including confirmation of the status of Salvelinus taranetzi as a distinct species.…”

Complete mitochondrial genomes of the Northern ( Salvelinus malma ) and Southern ( Salvelinus curilus ) Dolly Varden chars (Salmoniformes, Salmonidae)

“…There were no fixed differences detected between the Southern and Northern forms with allozyme (Omelchenko et al, 2002) and microsatellite (Gordeeva et al, 2010) markers. However, using PCR-RFLP mtDNA analysis, Oleinik et al (2007) detected a significant level of divergence between the forms (4%). The last authors included the ND6 gene in their analysis that has quite different evolutionary properties from those of the other 12 protein genes, making it an inappropriate mix with model-based methods (e.g.…”

Genetic analysis of Dolly Varden (Salvelinus malma) across its North American range: evidence for a contact zone in southcentral Alaska

“…Curiously, recent mtDNA phylogenetic analysis suggests that among these taxa and Arctic char, S. m. krascheninnikovi is the most basal lineage and that the origin of the complex may have originated in the western Pacific (cf. Oleinik et al 2007). …”