Factors responsible for spatial population genetic structure in white-spotted char Salvelinus leucomaensis (Pallas)

Abstract

Using personal data obtained earlier on the spatial population genetic structure of white-spotted char at ten microsatellite loci, an analysis of factors shaping the interpopulation divergence was performed. The primary role of genetic drift in population differentiation over the distribution range was demonstrated, compared to the practically absent role of stepwise mutation process. This result points to the common origin and relative connections between southern and northern population groups. In the majority of populations, no bottleneck effect was detected. Exclusion of the genetically peculiar Primorye population from the analysis resulted in the identification of the isolation by distance signatures among the examined populations. Such an association can be determined by the migratory exchange between the populations, or it could have formed during the historical post-Pleistocene colonization of the range.