Phylogeography and population genetics of Schizothorax o’connori: strong subdivision in the Yarlung Tsangpo River inferred from mtDNA and microsatellite markers

Abstract

The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) is a biodiversity hotspot, resulting from its geological history, contemporary environment and isolation. Uplift of the QTP and Quaternary climatic oscillations are hypothesised to have influenced the genetic diversity, population structure and dynamics of all QTP endemic species. In this study, we tested this hypothesis by assaying variation at two mitochondrial DNA regions (cytochrome b and control region) and at 12 microsatellite loci of seven populations of the endemic fish, Schizothorax o’connori from the Yarlung Tsangpo River (YLTR) on the QTP. Analyses revealed one group of six populations to the west, above the Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon (YTGC), and a second group to the east below the YTGC. Estimates of the timing of this east-west split indicate that these groups represent evolutionarily significant units that have evolved separately and rapidly in the middle Pleistocene, at the time of the Kunlun-Huanghe Movement A Phase and the Naynayxungla glaciation. Population dynamic analyses indicate that S. o’connori experienced a pronounced late Pleistocene expansion during the last interglacial period. The results of this study support the hypotheses that the QTP uplift and Quaternary climatic oscillations have played important roles in shaping the population genetics and dynamics of this endemic fish.

Comprehensive analysis of population genetics of Phoxinus phoxinus ujmonensis in the Irtysh River: Abiotic and biotic factors

“…All the P i values were below the threshold value of 0.005 (Grant & Bowen, ). This contrast was consistent with the results of previous studies that employed these two types of markers (Guo et al, ; Kolleck, Yang, Zinner, & Roos, ; Pope, Estoup, & Moritz, ; Waits, Taberlet, Swenson, Sandegren, & Franzén, ), which could be attributed to the different inheritance patterns of these two types of markers. Nuclear genomes can be more stably inherited by the next generation, while cytoplasmic genomes could only be partially inherited from the previous generation (Galloway & Fenster, ; Jaj & Werren, ; Nigro, ).…”

Phylogeography of the threatened tetraploid fish, Schizothorax waltoni, in the Yarlung Tsangpo River on the southern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau: implications for conservation

“…As the largest high-elevation ecosystem in the world, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) is characterised by high species richness and abundant endemic species, and has been identified as one of the most important centres of biodiversity in the world 22 . The unique status of the QTP arises because of the influence of its geological history on its biodiversity 23,24 . The QTP has, however, been identified as a region in need of urgent protection to conserve its biodiversity because of the many anthropogenic threats that it now faces 25 .…”

“Colonization routes and demographic history of Chirostoma humboldtianum in the central Mexican plateau”

“…On the other hand, for the mtDNA data set, the chosen scenario has a posterior probability of 0.5340 for the logistic regression and 0.5698 for the direct regression, suggesting that the ancient population was distributed in San Pedro (SP); after it, the population experienced a genetic bottleneck (Nb) at time t1-db and an ancient population gave rise to genetic cluster E located in San Juanico (SJ) and genetic groups A, B and C distributed in Central Mexico at the same time. Broeck et al, 2008;Heled & Drummond, 2009;Ma et al, 2012, Fernandes et al, 2013Guo et al, 2016).…”