Evaluation of the Genetic Diversity of the Ryukyu Long-furred Rat (<i>Diplothrix legata</i>) on Northern Okinawa-jima Island, Japan

Abstract

We examined the partial mitochondrial DNA sequences of the Ryukyu long-furred rats (Diplothrix legata) on northern Okinawa-jima Island to evaluate the genetic diversity of this species. Complete mitochondrial D-loop (40-933) and partial tRNA-Pro (1-39) and Phe (934-961) sequences, totaling 961 bp in length, were determined for 60 individuals.Three D-loop haplotypes were present in these animals, with mutations at six sites (GenBank accession numbers: AB699876-AB699878). The haplotype diversity (H) and the nucleotide diversity (π) of the D-loop sequences were 0.606 and 0.00238, respectively. The "twin-peak" phenomenon was observed for the mismatch distribution of pairwise differences, indicating that the population of these animals had experienced a population bottleneck.