Genetic Diversity of the Population of Northern Pike Esox lucius L. from the Rivers of the Northeastern Part of Russia

Abstract

Data on the structure and variability of the nucleotide sequence of the mtDNA cytochrome b gene of the northern pike Esox lucius L. from the rivers of the Kolyma River basin are reported for the first time. The intergroup division accounts for 59.38% of the variability, which indicates a clear differentiation of the pike populations of the Kolyma and Anadyr river basins, despite their common origin. The evolutionary age of the mitochondrial gene pool of this species was estimated for these localities. We assume that the separation of the ancestral population of the northern pike could have occurred in the early Pleistocene, and the expansion of the phylogenetic group A, uniting all the detected haplotypes of the mtDNA cytochrome b gene, occurred in the late Pleistocene, which was characterized by favorable climatic conditions.