Abstract
The most southern population of reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) inhabits northeastern China, but the migration route and origin of this population have not been confirmed. The sequences of mitochondrial DNA control regions from domestic and wild herds from Eurasia and China were analysed. The results showed that the Chinese reindeer population originated independently from north-central Russian domestic herds, belonging to a large reindeer population that was present across Beringia during the last glacial period. Some studies have reported that the Chinese reindeer population is closely related to wild forest reindeer herds in Russia. Our results, however, indicate that wild forest reindeer herds of southeastern Russia contributed little or nothing to the Chinese reindeer herd gene pool. Chinese reindeer herds have a much greater genetic similarity to more northerly distributed tundra-type herds that inhabit open areas. The present findings will be essential for future conservation planning for Chinese reindeer.
Highlights
The reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) is a keystone species in the Circumpolar North[1,2,3] and is widely distributed in Eurasian, North American and some Arctic islands
Our analysis clearly identified that the H1 haplotype was the most common and dominant in all Chinese reindeer populations
The Chinese reindeer herds began to inhabit in the Greater Khingan Mountains approximately 300 years ago and have remained in physiogeographical isolation; gene exchange between populations is almost impossible
Summary
The reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) is a keystone species in the Circumpolar North[1,2,3] and is widely distributed in Eurasian, North American and some Arctic islands. As this species survived the last glacial period, studies on reindeer fossils and migratory routes have provided reliable materials for phylogeographical research [4,5,6,7,8]. Domestic reindeer have provided great contributions to the origin and development of many northern indigenous cultures [11, 15,16,17]. One hypothesis suggests that domestic reindeer first appeared a few thousand years ago east of the Urals in the southern
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