Intraspecific Variation of Brown Rat Rattus norvegicus in Russia by D-Loop mtDNA Data.

Abstract

For the first time in Russia, the intraspecific structure of the brown rat Rattus norvegicus was studied using the mitochondrial control region (D-loop) as a molecular marker. The mtDNA sequence was determined in brown rats from eight regions of European and Asian Russia. Three rat clades were identified, including one in European Russia and two in Asian Russia. The synanthropic subspecies R. n. norvegicus was found to have two, European and Asian, lineages. The European lineage included haplotypes from central and southern regions of Russia, and the Asian lineage included haplotypes from Eastern Siberia and the Russian Far East. The exoanthropic subspecies R. n. caraco from the Russian Far East formed a separate genetic lineage.