Biochemical Systematics of Pupfishes

俄克拉荷马州立大学的安东尼博士和爱丽丝·埃谢尔博士将利用生化数据研究北美淡水鲤鱼的进化关系。该类群包括鲤鱼属的蛹鱼(35种)和相关鱼类的5个小属(每属1-2种)。这项工作强调使用通过电泳法分析的蛋白质变异来描述鲤鱼属之间和22个“内陆”物种之间的系谱关系，然后使用线粒体DNA变异来描述一小部分物种之间的关系，死亡谷鲤鱼及其最近的近亲。在北美洲的三大温暖沙漠：莫哈德沙漠、索诺兰沙漠和吉娃娃沙漠，瓢虫鱼构成了种类最多的鱼类。大量生活在沙漠中的瓢虫物种及其栖息的沙漠是在相对较近的地质时代发展起来的。因此，对鲤鱼之间的系统发育关系的了解应该会为了解美国西南部和墨西哥北部的生物地理提供相当大的洞察力。瓢虫鱼还提供了一个不同寻常的机会来测试不同的物种形成模式。在不久的将来，一些鲤鱼和一种近亲属的鲤鱼可能会灭绝。这项拟议工作的一个结果是为未来的生化工作生产冰冻的组织收集。

Drs. Anthony and Alice Echelle of Oklahoma State University will use biochemical data to study the evolutionary relationships of the freshwater pupfishes of North America. The group includes the pupfishes of the genus Cyprinodon (35 species) and five small genera (1-2 species each) of related fishes. The work emphasizes the use of protein variation analyzed by electrophoresis to describe genealogical relatedness among the genera and among the 22 "inland" species of pupfish, followed by the use of mitochondrial DNA variation to describe relationships within a small subset of species, the Death Valley pupfishes and their nearest relatives. Pupfishes constitute the most diverse group of fishes in the three major warm deserts of North America: Mohave, Sonoran, and Chihuahuan. The numerous desert-dwelling pupfish species and the deserts they inhabit have developed in relatively recent geological time. Thus, knowledge of phylogenetic relationships among pupfishes should provide considerable insight into the biogeography of southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The pupfishes also provide an unusual opportunity to test different modes of speciation. A number of pupfishes and the one species of the related genus Megupsilon are threatened with probable extinction in the near future. One outcome of the proposed work is to produce frozen collections of tissues for future biochemical work.