On the Origin of Two Species of Charrs (Salvelinus, Salmonidae) in Lake Elgygytgyn: Data on the ATPase6–NADH4L Region of Mitochondrial DNA

Abstract

To test the reliability of Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism data for ATPase6–NADH4L region of mitochondrial DNA (2162 bp), which unambiguously support the allopatric origin of the small-mouth charr Salvelinus elgyticus and “Boganida” charr S. “boganidae” in Lake Elgygytgyn, this region was sequenced in some members of the S. alpinus–S. malma complex. It is shown that RFLP data on the number of restriction sites and the size of restriction fragments for the 2162 bp region are poorly consistent with data on nucleotide sequences for the majority of forms and species of charr. Based on the identified errors, data on the MvaI restriction sites for ATPase6–NADH4L region of mitochondrial DNA cannot be considered as unambiguous evidence in favor of the allopatric origin of the two charr species in Lake Elgygytgyn. Nevertheless, the nucleotide data for this fragment suggest with a high probability that the small-mouth and “Boganida” charrs of Lake Elgygytgyn have an allopatric origin.