Abstract
BackgroundThe European mink (Mustela lutreola, L. 1761) is a critically endangered mustelid, which inhabits several main river drainages in Europe. Here, we assess the genetic variation of existing populations of this species, including new sampling sites and additional molecular markers (newly developed microsatellite loci specific to European mink) as compared to previous studies. Probabilistic analyses were used to examine genetic structure within and between existing populations, and to infer phylogeographic processes and past demography.ResultsAccording to both mitochondrial and nuclear microsatellite markers, Northeastern (Russia, Estonia and Belarus) and Southeastern (Romania) European populations showed the highest intraspecific diversity. In contrast, Western European (France and Spain) populations were the least polymorphic, featuring a unique mitochondrial DNA haplotype. The high differentiation values detected between Eastern and Western European populations could be the result of genetic drift in the latter due to population isolation and reduction. Genetic differences among populations were further supported by Bayesian clustering and two main groups were confirmed (Eastern vs. Western Europe) along with two contained subgroups at a more local scale (Northeastern vs. Southeastern Europe; France vs. Spain).ConclusionsGenetic data and performed analyses support a historical scenario of stable European mink populations, not affected by Quaternary climate oscillations in the Late Pleistocene, and posterior expansion events following river connections in both North- and Southeastern European populations. This suggests an eastern refuge during glacial maxima (as already proposed for boreal and continental species). In contrast, Western Europe was colonised more recently following either natural expansions or putative human introductions. Low levels of genetic diversity observed within each studied population suggest recent bottleneck events and stress the urgent need for conservation measures to counteract the demographic decline experienced by the European mink.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12862-015-0427-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
The European mink (Mustela lutreola, L. 1761) is a critically endangered mustelid, which inhabits several main river drainages in Europe
We used five new species-specific microsatellite loci isolated from European mink [12] on all samples. With these new data and recently developed Bayesian analysis methods, our goals were to gain further insight into: i) the current genetic structure of the European mink; ii) the phylogeographic processes associated with the glacial refuge and post-glacial colonization of the species, and the origin of the W population; iii) the role of river drainages in shaping the current species distribution; and iv) the existence of population genetic bottlenecks caused by the effects of human impact
Mitochondrial DNA analyses Genetic variability-Standard population genetic analyses A fragment of the mtDNA control region was amplified and sequenced in 157 specimens (Fig. 1)
Summary
The European mink (Mustela lutreola, L. 1761) is a critically endangered mustelid, which inhabits several main river drainages in Europe. We assess the genetic variation of existing populations of this species, including new sampling sites and additional molecular markers (newly developed microsatellite loci specific to European mink) as compared to previous studies. 1761) is a riparian mustelid that used to occupy most of the main river drainages in Europe. European mink [10, 11] have examined mitochondrial (mt) DNA control region, and six microsatellite loci originally isolated from other mustelid species. These studies pointed to NE Europe as the most likely glacial refuge since the population in this region showed the highest haplotype diversity. The specimens examined in these studies [10, 11] were mostly from France and results require further confirmation based on a more complete and even sampling effort across the current distribution range of the species
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