Molecular Genetic Distance Research Articles

MtDNA sequences of Chadic-speaking populations from northern Cameroon suggest their affinities with eastern Africa

Background: No mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences from Chadic-speaking peoples have yet been reported, even though these populations inhabit a vast territory from eastern Nigeria to central Chad. This paper deals with the mtDNA sequences of four Central Chadic populations (Hide, Kotoko, Mafa and Masa) from northern Cameroon, biological samples from which were collected during anthropological research in the area of their homeland.Objective: The main goals of this article are to report new mtDNA sequences of Chadic-speaking populations, to analyse their genetic diversity and to establish their relationships within the peri-Saharan area in respect of geography and languages.Subject and methods: The analyses are based on 104 mtDNA haplotypes, which can be localized into four different areas of northern Cameroon. Data collection was based on a strict geographical sampling strategy; the ethnonyms are retained here only for comparative purposes.Results: None of the examined Chadic populations displays a departure from the normal mismatch distribution pattern, and the null hypothesis of the expansion event cannot be rejected. Analyses of molecular variance and FST genetic distances revealed that the Chadic-speaking groups of northern Cameroon share more similarities with the populations of the Upper and Middle Nile Valley and East Africa than with populations from Central Africa. The results show geographical clustering to be more important than the correlation of linguistic affiliations with molecular genetic data.Conclusion: The observation that the Chadic group reveals some affinities to East Africans is extremely surprising giving the present-day geographical distance (around 2000 km) between them. These observations complement recent linguistic and archaeological findings, which consider the Chadic branch in the Afro-Asiatic phylum to be of eastern origin. A continuous, well-defined, geographic sampling strategy of the different genetic polymorphisms of the native populations of sub-Saharan Africa is further needed as the only way of understanding the differentiation of the mtDNA sequences at a micro-regional scale.

Evaluation of genetic distances between pepper inbred lines for cultivar protection purposes: comparison of AFLP, RAPD and phenotypic data

We evaluated concordance of AFLP and RAPD markers for estimating genetic distances of 47 pepper inbred lines belonging to five varietal types. It enabled us to see the efficiency of these markers for identification, estimation of distances between varieties and variety discrimination. Genetic distance and multidimensional scaling results showed a general agreement between AFLP and RAPD markers. Based on pattern scores, dendrograms were produced by the UPGMA method. Phenetic trees based on molecular data were consistent with the classification of variety group. The precision of the estimation of the genetic distance was given. The molecular genetic distances were correlated with distances based on a set of discriminating agronomic traits measured for identification and distinctiveness tests. The relationship between molecular and morphological distances appeared to be triangular. These results and their implications in the cultivar protection purposes of pepper hybrids are discussed.

Potential of DNA markers in detecting divergence and in analysing heterosis in Indian elite chickpea cultivars

Molecular markers such as RAPDs and microsatellites were used to study genetic diversity in 29 elite Indian chickpea genotypes. In general, microsatellites were more efficient than the RAPD markers in detecting polymorphism in these genotypes. Among the various microsatellites, (AAC)5, (ACT)5, (AAG)5 and (GATA)4 were able to differentiate all 29 chickpea cultivars. The mean value of probability of identical match by chance was 2.32×10-25 using DraI-(ACT)5, TaqI-(AAC)5, TaqI-(AAG)5 and TaqI-(GATA)4 enzyme-probe combinations. The dendrogram, constructed on the basis of similarity index values, grouped the chickpea genotypes into five main clusters with 8 cultivars genetically distant and outgrouped from the main clusters. To investigate if DNA markers are useful in predicting F1 performance and heterosis in chickpea, we crossed 8 genotypes having important agronomic characters in a diallel set. The F1s and their parents in the diallel set were analysed for agronomic traits for better parent and midparent heterosis. Heterosis was found to be much higher for yield than for yield components that fit a multiplicative model. The analysis of genetic divergence using D2 statistics clustered the 8 cultivars into two groups. Although molecular marker-based genetic distance did not linearly correlate to heterosis, two heterotic groups could be identified on the basis of the general marker heterozygosity.

Molecular markers and species delimitation: examples from the European batrachofauna

AbstractMolecular techniques have revolutionised zoological systematics since the beginning of the seventies. Within the last twenty years numerous new amphibian species have been described in Europe almost solely on the basis of molecular data. This paper focuses on the use of molecular character state and genetic distance data for the delimitation of species. Case studies of European anurans (Discoglossus, water frogs of the genus Rana) are discussed in the framework of concurring species concepts to illustrate problems of assigning species status to divergent populations on the basis of molecular data.

Molecular Genetic Divergence of Orang Utan (<italic>Pongo pygmaeus</italic>) Subspecies Based on Isozyme and Two-Dimensional Gel Electrophoresis

The orang utan (Pongo pygmaeus), as currently recognized, includes two geographically separated subspecies: Pongo pygmaeus pygmaeus, which resides on Borneo, and P. p. abelii, which inhabits Sumatra. At present, there is no known route of gene flow between the two populations except through captive individuals which have been released back into the wild over the last several decades. The two subspecies are differentiated by morphological and behavioral characters, and they can be distinguished by a subspecies specific pericentric chromosomal inversion. Nei-genetic distances were estimated between orang utan subspecies, gorilla, chimpanzee and humans using 44 isozyme loci and using 458 soluble fibroblast proteins which were resolved by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. Phenetic analysis of both data sets supports the following conclusions: the orang utan subspecies distances are approximately 10 times closer to each other than they are to the African apes, and the orang utan subspecies are approximately as divergent as are the two chimpanzee species. Comparison of the genetic distances to genetic distance estimates done in the same laboratory under identical conditions reveals that the distance between Bornean vs. Sumatran orang utans is 5-10 times the distance measured between several pairs of subspecies including lions, cheetahs, and tigers. Near species level molecular genetic distances between orang utan subspecies would support the separate management of Bornean and Sumatran orang utans as evolutionary significant units (Ryder 1987). Evolutionary topologies were constructed from the distance data using both cladistic and phenetic methods. The majority of resulting trees affirmed previous molecular evolutionary studies that indicated that man and chimpanzee diverged from a common ancestor subsequent to the divergence of gorilla from the common ancestor.