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1 July 2012 Genetic Variation and Population Structure of the Japanese Sika Deer (Cervus nippon) in the Tohoku District Based on Mitochondrial D-loop Sequences
Harutaka Takiguchi, Kazuaki Tanaka, Kana Ono, Asuka Hoshi, Masato Minami, Kiyoshi Yamauchi, Seiki Takatsuki
Author Affiliations +
Abstract

The sika deer (Cervus nippon) once inhabited the entire Tohoku District, the northeastern part of the main island of Japan. Currently, they are isolated as three discontinuous populations on Mt. Goyo, the Oshika Peninsula, and Kinkazan Island. To assess the genetic diversity and relationships among the sika deer populations in the Tohoku District, we analyzed the mitochondrial DNA D-loop sequences from 177 individuals. We detected a total of five haplotypes. Three haplotypes were present in the population from Mt. Goyo at a haplotype diversity of 0.235 ± 0.061, two haplotypes in the population from the Oshika Peninsula at 0.171 ± 0.064, and only one haplotype was detected in the population from the Kinkazan Island. A significant genetic differentiation was observed among all population pairs. Collectively, our data supports the observed population bottlenecks in the past. Four of the five haplotypes were specific to one of the three populations, whereas only one haplotype was shared between the Mt. Goyo and the Oshika Peninsula populations. This common haplotype may indicate a common ancestral population in the Tohoku District. Conversely, the D-loop haplotypes were completely different among the Kinkazan Island and Oshika Peninsula populations. The lack of a shared haplotype indicates that female gene flow between the two populations is very limited and that the 0.6 km strait acts as a strong barrier.

© 2012 Zoological Society of Japan
Harutaka Takiguchi, Kazuaki Tanaka, Kana Ono, Asuka Hoshi, Masato Minami, Kiyoshi Yamauchi, and Seiki Takatsuki "Genetic Variation and Population Structure of the Japanese Sika Deer (Cervus nippon) in the Tohoku District Based on Mitochondrial D-loop Sequences," Zoological Science 29(7), 433-436, (1 July 2012). https://doi.org/10.2108/zsj.29.433
Received: 1 September 2011; Accepted: 1 February 2012; Published: 1 July 2012
KEYWORDS
Cervus nippon
mtDNA
phylogeny
sika deer
Tohoku
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