Cytochrome B Haplotypes (cytochrome + b_haplotype)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Testing Bergmann's rule in the presence of potentially confounding factors: a case study with three species of Galerida larks in Morocco

JOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY, Issue 4 2008
Alban Guillaumet
Abstract Aim, To test Bergmann's rule (which predicts a larger body size in colder areas within warm-blooded vertebrate species) in three partially sympatric species of larks (Galerida theklae, Galerida cristata and Galerida randonii) that occur in Morocco. Location, Morocco. Methods, Restriction fragment length polymorphism techniques applied on cytochrome b haplotypes were used to discriminate G. cristata and G. randonii, and to investigate the effects of interspecific hybridization in their contact zone. A comprehensive statistical framework was then designed to test Bergmann's rule in our three Galerida species (using altitude as a proxy for cold temperatures), while controlling for the possible influence of interspecific hybridization and competition and accounting for spatial autocorrelation. The method we propose is conservative in the sense that potentially confounding factors are adjusted so as to maximize their influence on the variable of interest. Results, Bergmann's rule was strongly supported in G. theklae and G. randonii. However, body size did not respond to altitude in G. cristata, a result that was not simply explained by species-specific differences in geographical ranges and altitudinal span. In G. cristata, we detected a tendency for body size to increase with aridity, in agreement with an alternative definition of Bergmann's rule. However, since G. cristata also hybridizes with G. randonii in a contact zone located in the most arid part of the range of G. cristata, we could not tease apart the relative contribution of selection and hybridization in driving this pattern. Main conclusions, This study highlights the need for careful statistical designs that allow meaningful variables to be picked out from large sets of potential factors. When taking these factors into account, we found that Bergmann's rule was still strongly supported in two out of the three species examined. [source]


Mitochondrial and Wolbachia markers for the sandfly Phlebotomus papatasi: little population differentiation between peridomestic sites and gerbil burrows in Isfahan province, Iran

MEDICAL AND VETERINARY ENTOMOLOGY, Issue 4 2003
P. Parvizi
Abstract., In Iran, Phlebotomus papatasi (Scopoli) (Diptera: Psychodidae) is the main vector of Leishmania major Yakimoff & Schokhor (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae), the causative agent of rural zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis. This sandfly is abundant both in villages and in the burrows of the main reservoir host, the gerbil Rhombomys opimus (Licht.) (Rodentia: Gerbillidae). Populations of P. papatasi were sampled from the edges of villages in Isfahan province, using CDC miniature light traps in peridomestic sites and sticky papers placed at the entrances to gerbil burrows. Single peridomestic sites in two northern provinces were also sampled. Individual sandflies were characterized by PCR amplification and sequencing of fragments of their mitochondrial cytochrome b gene and of the wsp gene of endosymbiotic Wolbachia pipientis Hertig (alpha-Proteobacteria: Rickettsiaceae). The distributions of the haplotypes of these two maternally inherited genes were analysed to assess the population differentiation of P. papatasi, knowledge of which will be needed for planning control measures. For the first time these markers were used to characterize P. papatasi from gerbil burrows, and they indicated the absence not only of sympatric cryptic species but also of any long-term differentiation of lineages in different habitats. A single lineage of cytochrome b haplotypes was found, and both sexes in all populations had a high infection rate of the same A-group strain of Wolbachia (wPap). The distributions of cytochrome b haplotypes were consistent with females dispersing more than males, which has been reported for P. papatasi in other countries. The widespread distribution of wPap suggests that Wolbachia could be used to spread transgenes between populations of P. papatasi in different habitats. [source]


Invasion genetics of the Eurasian round goby in North America: tracing sources and spread patterns

MOLECULAR ECOLOGY, Issue 1 2009
JOSHUA E. BROWN
Abstract The Eurasian round goby Neogobius melanostomus (Apollonia melanostoma) invaded the North American Great Lakes in 1990 through ballast water, spread rapidly, and now is widely distributed and moving through adjacent tributaries. We analyse its genetic diversity and divergence patterns among 25 North American (N = 744) and 22 Eurasian (N = 414) locations using mitochondrial DNA cytochrome b gene sequences and seven nuclear microsatellite loci in order to: (i) identify the invasion's founding source(s), (ii) test for founder effects, (iii) evaluate whether the invasive range is genetically heterogeneous, and (iv) determine whether fringe and central areas differ in genetic diversity. Tests include FST analogues, neighbour-joining trees, haplotype networks, Bayesian assignment, Monmonier barrier analysis, and three-dimensional factorial correspondence analysis. We recovered 13 cytochrome b haplotypes and 232 microsatellite alleles in North America and compared these to variation we previously described across Eurasia. Results show: (i) the southern Dnieper River population was the primary Eurasian donor source for the round goby's invasion of North America, likely supplemented by some alleles from the Dniester and Southern Bug rivers, (ii) the overall invasion has high genetic diversity and experienced no founder effect, (iii) there is significant genetic structuring across North America, and (iv) some expansion areas show reduced numbers of alleles, whereas others appear to reflect secondary colonization. Sampling sites in Lake Huron's Saginaw Bay and Lake Ontario significantly differ from all others, having unique alleles that apparently originated from separate introductions. Substantial genetic variation, multiple founding sources, large number of propagules, and population structure thus likely aided the goby's ecological success. [source]


Origin and genetic diversity of Western European populations of the potato cyst nematode (Globodera pallida) inferred from mitochondrial sequences and microsatellite loci

MOLECULAR ECOLOGY, Issue 9 2008
O. PLANTARD
Abstract Native to South America, the potato cyst nematode Globodera pallida is one of the principal pests of Andean potato crops and is also an important global pest following its introduction to Europe, Africa, North America, Asia and Oceania. Building on earlier work showing a clear south to north phylogeographic pattern in Peruvian populations, we have been able to identify the origin of Western European populations with high accuracy. They are all derived from a single restricted area in the extreme south of Peru, located between the north shore of the Lake Titicaca and Cusco. Only four cytochrome b haplotypes are found in Western Europe, one of them being also found in some populations of this area of southern Peru. The allelic richness at seven microsatellite loci observed in the Western European populations, although only one-third of that observed in this part of southern Peru, is comparable to the allelic richness observed in the northern region of Peru. This result could be explained by the fact that most of the genetic variability observed at the scale of a field or even of a region is already observed at the scale of a single plant within a field. Thus, even introduction via a single infected potato plant could result in the relatively high genetic variability observed in Western Europe. This finding has important consequences for the control of this pest and the development of quarantine measures. [source]


The rise and fall of the mountain hare (Lepus timidus) during Pleistocene glaciations: expansion and retreat with hybridization in the Iberian Peninsula

MOLECULAR ECOLOGY, Issue 3 2007
J. MELO-FERREIRA
Abstract The climatic fluctuations during glaciations have affected differently arctic and temperate species. In the northern hemisphere, cooling periods induced the expansion of many arctic species to the south, while temperate species were forced to retract in southern refugia. Consequently, in some areas the alternation of these species set the conditions for competition and eventually hybridization. Hares in the Iberian Peninsula appear to illustrate this phenomenon. Populations of Iberian hare (Lepus granatensis), brown hare (Lepus europaeus) and broom hare (Lepus castroviejoi) in Northern Iberia harbour mitochondrial haplotypes from the mountain hare (Lepus timidus), a mainly boreal and arctic species presently absent from the peninsula. To understand the history of this past introgression we analysed sequence variation and geographical distribution of mitochondrial control region and cytochrome b haplotypes of L. timidus origin found in 378 specimens of these four species. Among 124 L. timidus from the Northern Palaearctic and the Alps we found substantial nucleotide diversity (2.3%) but little differentiation between populations. Based on the mismatch distribution of the L. timidus sequences, this could result from an expansion at a time of temperature decrease favourable to this arctic species. The nucleotide diversity of L. timidus mtDNA found in Iberian L. granatensis, L. europaeus and L. castroviejoi (183, 70 and 1 specimens, respectively) was of the same order as that in L. timidus over its range (1.9%), suggesting repeated introgression of multiple lineages. The structure of the coalescent of L. granatensis sequences indicates that hybridization with L. timidus was followed by expansion of the introgressed haplotypes, as expected during a replacement with competition, and occurred when temperatures started to rise, favouring the temperate species. Whether a similar scenario explains the introgression into Iberian L. europaeus remains unclear but it is possible that it hybridized with already introgressed L. granatensis. [source]