Phylogenetic relationships of Amur sturgeon Acipenser schrenckii Brandt, 1869 based on 18S rDNA sequencing

Abstract

The analysis of phylogenetic relationships based on 18S rDNA sequences of Amur sturgeon Acipenser schrenckii Brandt, 1869 with other acipenseriform species was performed in this study. Complete sequences (1746 b. p.) in seven individual clones of A. schrenckii 18S rRNA were determined. Mutation profile of Amur sturgeon 18S rDNA demonstrated high similarity with that of Lake Sturgeon A. fulvescens. Both presumably functional sequence and the specific mutation (insertion of adenine after position 658) of Amur sturgeon 18S rDNA were identified by structural-functional analyses. Phylogenetic reconstructions performed using different methods (NJ, MP, ML and Bayesian) support monophyly of the genus Acipenser and point to: 1) closer relationships Amur sturgeon with sterlet, than Baltic sturgeon, which is in agreement with Artyukhin's eco-morphological classification (Artyukhin, 1995, 2006); 2) sufficiently high differentiation between North-American (A. fulvescens) and Eurasian (A. schrenckii, A. ruthenus and A. sturio) sturgeons.