Molecular genetic ecology of the diversity in sika deer populations.

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

1. Object : To study current genetic diversity of local populations of Japanese sika deer, and to investigate the effect of habitat fragmentation over genetic differentiation, we measured the level of genetic variations among and within populations by DNA analyses. Genetic data were used to assess the level of genetic differentiation among populations and the level of genetic diversity in each population.2. Methods : We collected DNA samples of sika deer at ten localities in Japan : three from Hokkaido, Iwate, Kinkazan, Hyogo, Yamaguchi, Shimane, Tsushima, and Nagasaki. Genetic variations at eight microsatellite loci were detected by GeneScan DNA fragment analysis.3. Results and Discussion : Multiple comparison test revealed that average observed heterozygosity (Ho) in Kinkazan population did not differ from the others except Nagasaki ; Ho in Nagasaki population was significantly (p<0.01) lower than those in Kinkazan, Hyogo, Shimane, Tsushima, and Yamaguchi populations. We also found n … More o significant difference between Ho and average expected heterozygosity (He) in each population. We, therefore, concluded that heterozygosity in small population is not necessarily reduced in comparison with larger populations. The reduction in heterozygosity can not be explained simply by the island effect nor current population size. We detected considerable genetic variations in Kinkazan population. Compulter simulation study demonstrated that heterozygosity in Kinkazan population will decrease rapidly within 20 generation if the population size is constant. However, actual genetic diversity is greater than what expected from the simulation. This suggests that a gene flow within a population would conter the effect of genetic drift in an isolated population. Fst analysis showed that the genetic differentiation among local populations is evident although there are no clear separation between northern and southern mtDNA haplotype groups. The microsatellite markers tested in our study were, therefore, proved to be powerful tools in dissecting population structure of sika deer. Less