New Evidences of Mitochondrial DNA Heteroplasmy by Putative Paternal Leakage between the Rock Partridge (Alectoris graeca) and the Chukar Partridge (Alectoris chukar)

Abstract

The rock partridge, Alectoris graeca, is a polytypic species declining in Italy mostly due to anthropogenic causes, including the massive releases of the closely related allochthonous chukar partridge Alectoris chukar which produced the formation of hybrids. Molecular approaches are fundamental for the identification of evolutionary units in the perspective of conservation and management, and to correctly select individuals to be used in restocking campaigns. We analyzed a Cytochrome oxidase I (COI) fragment of contemporary and historical A. graeca and A. chukar samples, using duplicated analyses to confirm results and nuclear DNA microsatellites to exclude possible sample cross-contamination. In two contemporary specimens of A. graeca, collected from an anthropogenic hybrid zone, we found evidence of the presence of mtDNA heteroplasmy possibly associated to paternal leakage and suggesting hybridization with captive-bred exotic A. chukar. These results underline significant limitations in the reliability of mtDNA barcoding-based species identification and could have relevant evolutionary and ecological implications that should be accounted for when interpreting data aimed to support conservation actions.

Behavioural mating displays depend on mitochondrial function: a potential mechanism for linking behaviour to individual condition

“…By contrast, environmental sources of mitochondrial variation may have more transient or localized effects, such as damage to mitochondria in tissue affected by a toxin or exposure to radiation (Zhang et al, ). This is important to note because mutations that accrue in one tissue may not be present in all tissues (in the case of heteroplasmy, where an individual possesses more than one mitochondrial haplotype; Barr, Neiman & Taylor, ; Kmiec, Woloszynska & Janska, ; Gandolfi et al, ), and the density and functions of mitochondria vary among tissues and may be differently affected by changing conditions (Hulbert et al, ; Benard et al, ; Holmström et al, ; Salin et al, ). Measuring mitochondrial function in avian red blood cells, for example, may not be an accurate substitute for measuring mitochondrial performance in neural tissue in cases where damage may be localized, although such relationships can be validated (Stier et al, ).…”

Evidence for a duplicated mitochondrial region in Audubon’s shearwater based on MinION sequencing

“…However, it is known that heteroplasmy (e.g. Berg et al 1995, Mundy et al 1996, Moum & Bakke 2001, Gandolfi et al 2017, mitochondrial pseudogenes or NUMTS (Sorenson & Quinn 1998), and recombination (e.g. Tsaousis et al 2005, Sammler et al 2011) occur in birds.…”

Paternal leakage of mitochondrial DNA and maternal inheritance of heteroplasmy in Drosophila hybrids

“…Given that the transmitted rare haplotype could only have originated from their father, we can assume that these females contained their paternal haplotype in quantities lower than the detection limit of our method. PCR has been extensively used for detecting heteroplasmy 26,[34][35][36][37][38] , because it is more accurate than other methods, such as southern blotting 33,38 . However, PCR can only confirm the presence but cannot confirm the absence of a haplotype, because the ability of PCR to detect low amounts of template DNA depends on the detection limit of the primers 24,26 .…”