Premium
A comparison of mtDNA restriction sites vs. control region sequences in phylogeographic assessment of the musk turtle ( Sternotherus minor )
Author(s) -
WALKER D.,
BURKE V. J.,
BARÁK I.,
AVISE J. C.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
molecular ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.619
H-Index - 225
eISSN - 1365-294X
pISSN - 0962-1083
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-294x.1995.tb00229.x
Subject(s) - biology , phylogeography , mtdna control region , mitochondrial dna , biological dispersal , range (aeronautics) , population , evolutionary biology , turtle (robot) , phylogenetic tree , zoology , ecology , genetics , haplotype , gene , demography , materials science , sociology , genotype , composite material
A total of nearly 800 base pairs of mitochondrial DNA sequence was assayed in each of 52 musk turtles ( Sternotherus minor ) collected across the species' range in the south‐eastern USA. About one‐half of the sequence information in effect was accessed by conventional recognition‐site assays of the entire mtDNA molecule; the remainder came from direct sequence assays of a normally hypervariable 5′ section of the noncoding control region. The two assay methods produced essentially nonoverlapping sets of variable character states that were compared with respect to magnitudes and phylogeographic patterns of mtDNA variation. The two assay procedures yielded nearly identical outcomes with regard to: (a) total levels of species‐wide mtDNA genetic variation; (b) mean levels of within‐locale variation; (c) extremely high population genetic structure; (d) a phylogenetcally significant separation of samples from the north‐western half of the species' range vs. those in the south‐eastern segment; and (e) considerably lower genetic variability within the north‐western clade. The micro‐ and macro‐phylogeographic mtDNA patterns in the musk turtle are consistent with a low‐dispersal natural history, and with a suspected longer‐term biogeographic history of the species, respectively.