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Conservation genetics assessment and phylogenetic relationships of critically endangered Hucho bleekeri in China
Author(s) -
Wang K.,
Zhang S.H.,
Wang D.Q.,
Wu J.M.,
Wang C.Y.,
Wei Q.W.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of applied ichthyology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.392
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1439-0426
pISSN - 0175-8659
DOI - 10.1111/jai.13018
Subject(s) - biology , genetic diversity , population , inbreeding , critically endangered , genetics , nucleotide diversity , haplotype , mitochondrial dna , evolutionary biology , zoology , microsatellite , endangered species , analysis of molecular variance , allele , ecology , gene , habitat , demography , sociology
Summary Hucho bleekeri is a critically endangered salmonid fish found in the Yangtze River drainage in China. In this study, the genetic diversity of a small population (n = 43) was first assessed with partial mitochondrial DNA sequences (D‐loop region and a cytochrome b gene [ CYTB ] gene fragment) and 15 microsatellite markers. Low levels of nucleotide diversity ( Pi ) were demonstrated in the H. bleekeri population based on the two mitochondrial DNA markers. The number of haplotypes ( h ) and the haplotype diversity ( Hd ) in the D‐loop region (12 haplotypes and Hd = 0.8208) were higher than in the CYTB gene fragment (three haplotypes and Hd = 0.0941). The number of microsatellite alleles ( Na ) ranged from 2 to 13 in these individuals. The mean observed heterozygosity ( Ho ) and the expected heterozygosity ( He ) were 0.59719 and 0.44735, respectively. Analysis of molecular variance showed that the degree of differentiation in the population was low ( F ST = 0.04041) and the coefficient of inbreeding ( F IS ) was negative, indicating no obvious evidence of inbreeding in this population. A demographic assessment suggested that this species expanded a long time ago, but has suffered great losses in recent years. A molecular phylogenetic analysis clearly indicated that H. bleekeri is not introgressed by Brachymystax lenok tsinlingensis . The baseline population genetic information supplied by this study will be vital in monitoring this highly threatened species.