Mitochondrial DNA phylogeography of the Guizhou odorous frog: limited population genetic structure and evidence for recent population size expansion

Abstract

The Guizhou odorous frog Odorrana kweichowensis is endemic to Guizhou Province, China. In this study, a comparative analysis of the mitochondrial COI and ND2 gene sequences was performed to examine genetic diversity in 109 individuals from ten localities across the geographic range of the species. Haplotype diversity and nucleotide diversity were 0.576 and 0.00055, respectively. Phylogenetic analyses almost nested all haplotypes into one lineage. AMOVA indicated that total variation was mainly derived from variation within individual populations. Neutral tests indicated that a recent expansion occurred in the total population. Fst estimations indicated that genetic divergence was not correlated with geographic distance. Accordingly, the species probably experienced a recent population expansion, and there no obvious population genetic structure is apparent. The findings provide useful information for the conservation of this species.