中国狼不同地理种群遗传多样性及系统进化分析

Wolf was once widely distributed in China, but in recent years, due to the destruction of the environment and loss of habitat, the number of China wolf drastically declined. Wolves in China are mainly distributed in the sparsely populated western and northern regions of China. In order to protect the wolf, we first need to understand genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationships of the wolf populations in China. In this study, we had sequenced the partial mitochondrial DNA D-loop and Cytb gene of the wolf originating from four distinct geographical populations(Xinjiang, Qinghai, Inner Mongolia, Jilin). We used the means of molecular biology techniques, extract and successfully obtain the mitochondrial DNA control region hypervariable region (HVRI) sequence from 44 wolves and Cytb region sequence from 40 wolves. A total of 51variable sites from 582bp sequence of HVRI were identified. The loci rate of was 8.76%. Similarly, A total of 31 variable sites from Cytb sequence were identified, and all the variable sites are base substitutions. We found 16 haplotypes in the 44 HVRI gene sequence, and Inner Mongolia population and the population of Jilin have the same haplotype. Combined the China wolf haplotypes of previous study which is downloaded from Genbank , we found 28 haplotypes from about 91 China wolves. In order to explore the genetic diversity level of these geographic populations, we calculated nucleotide diversity and haplotype diversity of them. The population of XinJiang was found to have higher genetic diversity. By comparing the nucleotide diversity of the wolf in other country/region from previous studies, we found the nucleotide diversity of China wolf was higher. It can be explained that China wolves have a higher genetic diversity. We can see the wolf in China can be divided into two lineages by constructing the haplotypes phylogenetic tree. Wolf haplotypes of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and its surrounding areas gathered for one branch and constituted lineage 1. The relationship between clustering structure of the other wolf haplotypes with geographic location was not obvious. Considering a high level of genetic diversity and geographic particularity, we speculate that the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau populations evolved lonely for a long time. Thus, we speculated that the divergence time of two lineages was about 1.1 million years ago by the genetic distance of Cytb. Coincidentally, this time is similar to the time of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau was suddenly uplifted by geological processes.