Molecular phylogenetic status of Siberian roe deer (Capreolus pygargus) based on mitochondrial cytochrome b from Jeju Island in Korea

Abstract

In order to elucidate the genetic diversity and taxonomic status of Siberian roe deer (Capreolus pygargus) from the Korean peninsula, partial sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene were analyzed. We collected 57 roe deer samples from Mainland and Jeju Island between July 2004 and June 2009. A total of 50 sequences (1,070 bp) were obtained, and seven haplotypes were defined. Five haplotypes were found from Mainland, and two were discovered from Jeju Island. The genetic diversity was lower in the Jeju Island population than in the Mainland population. In addition, both the consensus neighbor-joining tree and maximum parsimony tree showed an identical topology between the Mainland and Jeju Island clades. Based on the results, two subspecies of the Korean roe deer were confirmed. Siberian roe deer in Jeju Island showed a distinct difference in the cytochrome b gene compared with other Siberian roe deer, being a unique native species inhabiting only Jeju Island in Korea. Because Siberian roe deer in Jeju Island can be classified at subspecies level, the new subspecies in Jeju was named Capreolus pygargus jejuensis in this study. For this new subspecies, reasonable conservation and management effort is needed in the future.