Molecular Evidence on the Evolutionary and Biogeographical Patterns of European Cyprinids

Abstract

The phylogenetic relationships of 106 European cyprinid taxa were determined based on the complete nucleotide sequence (1140 bp) of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene. The molecular phylogeny was used (1) to revise the current systematics of European cyprinids, (2) to establish the phylogenetic utility of traditional morphological characters that are widely used in Cyprinidae systematics, and (3) to discuss alternative hypotheses on the biogeography of the family in Europe. The age of the major lineages within European cyprinids was tentatively estimated with a molecular clock and showed full agreement with the fossil record of the group. Moreover, the results provided unambiguous evidence for a close phylogenetic affinity of some Caucasian and Greek endemic cyprinid taxa (e.g., B. capito and B. brachycephalus and Leuciscus keadicus, Barbus graecus, and B. albanicus, respectively) to Iberian and North African, but not Central European, cyprinids. The existence of such unexpected phylogenetic relationships refutes the classical hypothesis on the biogeography of European cyprinids, which assumes a dispersal of the cyprinid fauna from central Europe to southern Europe and northern Africa during the Miocene (and, hence, predicts a close phylogenetic relationship of all Caucasian, Greek, Iberian, and North African cyprinids to central European taxa). Instead, the existence of a Mediterranean realm independent of the central European route seems plausible based on the molecular evidence. It is likely that the new biogeographical scenario proposed here might apply to other primary freshwater European animals with low dispersal abilities, including fish, amphibians, and invertebrates.

High male incidence and evolutionary implications of triploid form in northeast Asia Carassius auratus complex

“…The substitution rate was constrained to the extent of 0.5-0.9% divergence per site per million year for freshwater fish mtDNA genes (Martin and Palumbi, 1993;Taylor et al, 1997;Waters and Burridge, 1999;Zardoya and Doadrio, 1999). Two independent runs were performed with 2 Â 10 7 MCMC iterations.…”

Remarkable phylogenetic resolution of the most complex clade of Cyprinidae (Teleostei: Cypriniformes): A proof of concept of homology assessment and partitioning sequence data integrated with mixed model Bayesian analyses

“…One of the questions we ask herein is can the enhanced methods of data partitioning improve our ability to resolve the phylogenetic relationships of these problematic groups at both the apical and basal levels. Resolution of the phylogenetic placement of the genus Tinca has been problematic using all types of data, either morphological or molecular (Chen et al, 2008;Chen, 1984;Gilles et al, 1998;Howes, 1991;Zardoya and Doadrio, 1999). Cavender and Coburn concluded from the morphological matrix of Chen that Tinca was more closely allied to the subfamily Cyprininae.…”

“…However, the number of independent genes used herein has been rather small compared to currently possible phylogenomic approaches (Chen, 2010). Recent investigations of Cyprinidae are limited to certain subgroups and geographical taxon sampling: Asian (He et al, 2004;Liu and Chen, 2003;Wang et al, 2007), Europe (Durand et al, 2002;Machordom and Doadrio, 2001;Zardoya and Doadrio, 1999), North American (Simons and Mayden, 1998). Although Tinca clearly clusters with the East-Asian clade, further studies with increased taxon sampling are needed to test the evolutionary affinities hypothesized between Tinca and the East-Asian clade.…”

Variation patterns of the mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene with secondary structure constraints and their application to phylogeny of cyprinine fishes (Teleostei: Cypriniformes)

“…Herein, we pursue a detailed analysis of the mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene sequences from the subfamily Cyprininae (sensu Howes, 1991) to shed light on how to best improve the phylogenetic resolution of these fishes, whose origin has dated to no more than 27 MYA estimated from the mitochondrial cytochrome b and partial fragments of 16S genes, respectively (Zardoya and Doadrio, 1999;Gilles et al, 1998). The aims of this study are to (1) provide a more inclusive phylogeny within the subfamily Cyprininae; (2) evaluate how to incorporate secondary structural constraints into analyses and improve the information content and performance of the mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene marker in the inference of cyprinine relationships; and (3) to evaluate the resolution of cyprinine phylogeny based on the mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene.…”