[On the Population Genetic Portrait of Kaluga, Acipenser dauricus Georgi, 1775 Analysis of Sequence Variation in the Mitochondrial DNA Control Region].

The variability of the mtDNA D-loop was examined in kaluga endemic to the Amur River, which is classified as critically endangered by the IUCN Red List of Threatened species. Sequencing of the D-loop fragment (819 bp) in 122 kaluga specimens collected in Lower Amur revealed 27 unique genotypes. The sample was characterized by a relatively low level of haplotypic (0.927) and nucleotide (0.0044) diversity. No considerable deviations from the neutral mutation model of DNA polymorphism were observed. Overall, the mismatch distribution patterns and the results of testing of simple demographic models (sudden demographic expansion and exponential population growth) pointed to a past increase in the number of kaluga sturgeons. According to the Bayesian skyline, the kaluga population doubled over the last two to three thousand years. The number of mature females in the modern kaluga population and the assessment of their long-term effective population size (Nef) are roughly at the same level (about three thousand individuals), which confirms the validity of assigning kaluga to the category of species on the brink of extinction.

[Mitochondrial DNA sequence variation, demographic history, and population structure of Amur sturgeon Acipenser schrenckii Brandt, 1869].

The variability of the mtDNA control region (D-loop) was examined in Amur sturgeon endemic to the Amur River. This species is also classified as critically endangered by the IUCN Red List of Threatened species. Sequencing of 796- to 812-bp fragments of the D-loop in 112 sturgeon collected in the Lower Amur revealed 73 different genotypes. The sample was characterized by a high level of haplotypic (0.976) and nucleotide (0.0194) diversity. The identified haplotypes split into two well-defined monophyletic groups, BG (n = 39) and SM (n = 34), differing (HKY distance) on average by 3.41% of nucleotide positions upon an average level of intragroup differences of 0.54 and 1.23%, respectively. Moreover, the haplotypes of the SM groups differed by the presence of a 13-14 bp deletion. Most ofthe samples (66 out of 112) carried BG haplotypes. Overall, the pattern of pairwise nucleotide differences and the results of neutrality tests, as well as the results of tests for compliance with the model of sudden demographic expansion or with the model of exponential growth pointed to a past significant increase in the number of Amur sturgeon, which was most clearly manifested in the analysis of data on the BG haplogroup. The constructed Bayesian skyline plots showed that this growth began about 18 to 16 thousand years ago. At present, the effective size of the strongly reduced (due to overharvesting) population of Amur sturgeon may be equal to or even lower than it was before the beginning of this growth during the Last Glacial Maximum. The presence in the mitochondrial gene pool ofAmur sturgeon of two haplogroups, their unequal evolutionary dynamics, and, judging by scanty data, their unequal representation in the Russian and Chinese parts of the Amur River basin point to the possible existence of at least two distinct populations of Amur sturgeon in the past.

[Phylogeny of salmonids (Salmoniformes, Salmonidae) and molecular dating: analysis of mtDNA data].

Phylogenetic relationships among 41 species of salmonid fish and some aspects of their diversification-time history were studied using the GenBank and original mtDNA data. The position of the root of the Salmonidae phylogenetic tree was uncertain. Among the possible variants, the most reasonable seems to be that in which thymallins are grouped into the same clade as coregonins and the lineage of salmonins occupied a basal position relative to this clade. The genera of Salmoninae formed two distinct clades, i.e., (Brachymystax, Hucho) and (Salmo, Parahucho, (Salvelinus, Oncorhynchus)). Furthermore, the genera Parasalmo and Oncorhynchus were reciprocally monophyletic. The congruence of Salmonidae phylogenetic trees obtained using different types of phylogenetic markers is discussed. According to Bayesian dating, ancestral lineages of salmonids and their sister esocids radiated about 106 million years ago. Sometime after, probably 100-70 million years ago, the salmonid-specific whole genome duplication took place. The divergence of salmonid lineages on the genus level occurred much later, within the time interval of 42-20 million years ago. The main wave of the diversification of salmonids at the species level occurred during the last 12 million years. The possible effect of genome duplication on the Salmonidae diversification pattern is discussed.

[Phylogeny of salmonids (Salmoniformes, Salmonidae) and its molecular dating: analysis of nuclear RAG1 gene].

The phylogenetic relationships among 26 species of salmonid fishes (family Salmonidae) were studied using the RAG1 gene as phylogenetic marker. No unambiguous relationships between thymallins, coregonins, and salmonins it was possible to establish. It seems likely, that divergence of these lineages took place during rather short time interval (about 3 to 4 million years). The thymallins are thought to be the first radiated lineage. The genera of the subfamily Salmoninae form two distinct monophyletic groups, represented by (1) Brachymystax and Hucho and (2) Salmo, Parahucho, Salvelinus, Parasalmo and Oncorhynchus. Ancestral forms of these two evolutionary lineages could diverge at the Oligocene-Miocene boundary (about 24 million years ago). It is suggested that diversification of the main lineages within the second group was rather rapid, and took place in middle Miocene (about 19-16 million years ago). Moreover, the lineages of Salvelinus, Parasalmo and Oncorhynchus were the latest to diverge. It seems likely that divergence of the Prosopium and Corergouns ancestral lineages occurred during the same time interval.

[On the systematics and phylogeography of eight-barbel loaches the genus Lefua (Cobitoidea: Nemacheilidae): mtDNA typing of L. pleskei].

Comparative analysis of personal sequence data for the mtDNA control region (926 to 928 bp) from eight-barbel loaches inhabiting eight localities in the Amur River basin (4) and the Sea of Japan (4) and the GeneBank/NCBI data for the Lefua individuals from the other regions of the world showed that eight-barbel loaches from Primorskii krai water basins were marked by a specific group of mtDNA haplotypes. This finding is considered as supporting the species status of L. pleskei. Genetic distances within L. pleskei are small (on average 0.355) and close to those within L. nikkonis (on average 0.48%). The distances between this species pair are the least (on average 2.15%) among all other pairs compared. In MP, ML, and Bayesian trees, L. pleskei and L. nikkonis haplotypes formed a common clade with high statistically significant support. In all tree variants, L. costata mtDNA haplotypes were located out of the group of interest. A clade consisting of highly diverged lineages of Lefua sp. and L. echigonia haplotypes occupied even more independent position. The mtDNA haplotypes of L. pleskei and L. costata from the Amur River basin were evolutionary young and derived from the haplotypes found in these species from the Sea of Japan (L. pleskei) or the Yellow Sea (L. costata) basins. It is thereby suggested that both species rather recently migrated into the Amur River system. According to the molecular clock data, basal diversification of the eight-barbel loach lineages took place at the end of middle Miocene (about 11 to 12 Myr ago), while divergence of L. pleskei and L. costata ancestral forms probably occurred approximately, 5 Myr ago. Since all main lineages of eight-barbel loaches were found in the Sea of Japan basin (continental coastline and the islands), the divergence order and dispersal patterns of the Lafua species might have been largely determined by the geological development pattern of this water body and the adjacent territories.

[Phylogeography of mitochondrial DNA in South Asian Dolly Varden char Salvelinus curilus Pallas, 1814 (Salmoniformes, Salmonidae): mediated gene introgression?].

In 41 individuals of South Asian Dolly Varden char Salvelinus curilus, nucleotide sequences of tRNA-Pro gene fragment (27 bp) and mtDNA control region (483-484 bp) were analyzed. The fish were collected in 20 localities covering virtually the whole range of the species: Kuril Islands, Sakhalin Island. and Primorye. In addition, six individuals of three other char species (S. albus, S. malma, and S. leucomaenis), which are closely related to S. curilus and inhabit the Russian Far East, were examined. In all, we detected 12 different variants of mtDNA haplotypes that formed three distinct groups differing in 14--20 nucleotide positions. The first group consisted of six haplotypes found in S. curilus in Kuril Islands, Sakhalin, and Primorye (mtDNA phylogroup OKHOTSKIA). The second group comprised four haplotypes representing the mtDNA phylogroup BERING, which had been described earlier (Brunner et al, 2001); they were found in S. curilus in Kuril Islands and Sakhalin, as well as in S. albus and S. malma in Kamchatka and northern Kurils. The third group included two haplotypes detected in S. leucomaenis. The existence of two mtDNA lineages (OKHOTSKIA and BERING) in S. curilus from Kurils and Sakhalin was explained by hybridization and DNA transfer from S. malma to S. curilus. The absence of the BERING haplotypes in S. curilus from Primorye water reservoirs is related to the physical isolation of the Sea of Okhotsk and Sea of Japan basins in past epochs. On the basis of comparing phylogenetic trees, constructed from the data on allozyme and mtDNA variation, we suggest that in this case, an indirect transfer of mtDNA in Alpinoid chars--> S. malma-->S. curilus chain could occur.