Preliminary Data on Phylogeography of the Naked Mole-Rat Heterocephalus glaber (Rodentia: Heterocephalidae)

Chromosomal Monomorphism in the Naked Mole-Rat Heterocephalus glaber (Rodentia: Heterocephalidae)

“…It is worth noting that the described differences in the estimation of the number of arms can arise owing to different methods of karyotyping. Thus, chromosome preparations obtained by the method of intraperitoneal colchicination followed All 18 karyotyped samples showed the same karyotype (as far as it is possible to identify using the routine staining method), despite the differences in mtDNA [9]. Data on the existence of differences in the "length of short arms" between populations from the territory of Kenya and Somalia [8] are borrowed from the study of Honeycutt et al [12], which compares the results of the early studies of George [5] and Capanna and Merani [6].…”

“…Available works are few and are based on single specimens from the marginal parts of the distribution range (George, 1979-5 specimens, South Kenya [5]; Capanna and Merani, 1980-2 specimens, Southeastern Somalia [6]; Deuve, 2006 [7]-1 specimen, laboratory colony of the University of Cape Town, South Africa). It should be noted that the results of molecular genetic analyses performed on the basis of mitochondrial DNA sequences reveal a rather pronounced phylogeographic structure of the species [8,9]. Thus, it was shown that the diversity of mitochondrial haplotypes in populations of H. glaber is represented by two well diverging lineages (K2P distance is 11% of the nucleotide substitutions for the gene cytb), one of which includes populations from eastern Ethiopia, and the second is represented by populations from South Ethiopia and Kenya [9, as well as our unpublished data].…”

“…The work was performed on 18 specimens caught in six localities in Ethiopia ( Fig. 1a; Table 1), the populations of which encompass all main mitochondrial lineages of H. glaber [9]. The karyotyping was carried out according to the standard method [10], including intraperitoneal injection of colchicine, hypotonation of bone marrow cells in a solution of potassium chloride, and subsequent fixation with triple ethanol acetic solution.…”

Genetic diversity of the naked mole‐rat ( Heterocephalus glaber)

“…However, these publications did not provide sufficient information about the genetic diversity of the naked mole‐rat because the data obtained in those studies were limited by sample size and geographical coverage. Limited sampling analysis of the naked mole‐rat from Ethiopia (Zemlemerova et al., 2020), performed using only two mitochondrial genes, showed that H. glaber possesses strong phylogeographic structure.…”

“…Previous studies have shown low genetic diversity within the colonies of this species (Faulkes, Abbott, & Mellor, 1990; Faulkes et al, 1997; Honeycutt, Nelson, Schlitter, & Sherman, 1991; Ingram, Troendle, Gill, Braude, & Honeycutt, 2015; Reeve, Westneat, Noon, Sherman, & Aquadro, 1990). Although several studies based on mitochondrial DNA have described the phylogeographic structure of H. glaber (Faulkes et al., 1997; Faulkes, Verheyen, Verheyen, Jarvis, & Bennett, 2004; Zemlemerova et al., 2020), the results obtained in these studies were limited by small sample size and geography; currently, there are no studies based on nuclear markers. In addition, it is still unclear whether all naked mole‐rats should be classified as a single monotypic species or it would be better to split them into several distinct species or subspecies.…”