Genetic structure of northern red-backed vole (Myodes (=Clethrionomys) rutilus Pallas, 1779) populations of the northern priokhotye determined by sequence variation of the mtDNA cytochrome B gene

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the genetic structure of coastal populations of the northern red-backed vole, Myodes (=Clethrionomys) rutilus, in northern Priokhotye on the basis of variation of a partial mtDNA cytb sequence. For the first time, the nucleotide and haplotype diversity of cytb sequences was described in M. rutilus from the islands of Matykil, Nedorazumeniya, Spafareva, and Talan (northern part of the Sea of Okhotsk), as well as from the Koni Peninsula, the vicinity of Magadan, and the Yama River basin, and the genetic structure of these populations was determined. Island populations of M. rutilus were found to have unique gene pools comprising two or three haplotypes each. In northern red-backed voles of the mainland coast of the Sea of Okhotsk, cytb sequences were highly polymorphic. Presumably, northern red-backed voles of the northern Priokhotye form a continuous coastal population. The results of genetic analysis suggest that M. rutilus populations of Tauisk Bay islands and the mainland coast of the Sea of Okhotsk belong to the same maternal strain, whereas northern red-backed voles from the island of Matykil in the Shelikhov Gulf represent a different genetic lineage.