M. V. Kholodova

Nucleotide sequences of the prion protein gene PRNPhave been obtained in order to assess potential genetic predisposition to the deadly prion chronic wasting disease (CWD) in three regional...

The genetic diversity of the Uralian moose population and the role of the Ural region in the phylogeographic structure of the European moose were evaluated based on sequence polymorphisms of the...

Based on an analysis of the polymorphism of nucleotide sequences ( n = 111) of the mtDNA control region (left domain), the genetic diversity of the largest population of wild reindeer Rangifer...

Using to analysis of hypervariable fragment polymorphism in the control region of mitochondrial DNA(268 bp), the genetic variability of Swan goose Anser cygnoides L., included in the first category of endangered species in the Russian Red Book, has been investigated. Samples from the two main groups nesting in Russia—the Far Eastern group (Khabarovsk krai, n = 38) and the Dauric group (Chita region, n = 10) were examined. Eleven haplotypes were described. The genetic diversity of Swan geese was low comparable with that observed in some other globally endangered Eurasian goose species. Nucleotide and haplotype diversity of goose from Khabarovsk krai was 0.0031 and 0.65, respectively; in those from Chita region, 0.0041 and 0.80; and for in total group, 0.0074 and 0.77, respectively. No identical haplotypes in Swan goose from Far Eastern and Daurical groups have been demonstrated. However, the small sample size does not allow us to make final conclusions on the degree of genetic differentiation between these groups.

Phylogeohraphy is a new field of study concerned with the principles and processes governing the geographic distribution of genealogical lineages, mainly within and among closely related species....

Genetic diversity within the northern subspecies group of musk deer Moschus moschiferus L., 1758 was examined based on the mtDNA control region hypervariable fragment (300-bp) sequence polymorphism. Nucleotide diversity, constituting 2.6% for the whole sample (n = 34), varied in the range from 0.6 to 1.9% for individual subspecies. Maximum values of this index were observed for Siberian subspecies (M. m. moschiferus), which had the widest range. Genetic similarity between the haplotypes of the musk deer from the Far East (Russia) and Sakhalin Island, which grouped in one cluster in a phylogenetic tree, was demonstrated. The data obtained indicate that the distribution of musk deer along the territory of Russia occurred from Eastern Siberia to the Far East, and from there to the Sakhalin Island. A currently observed decrease of the musk deer population number along with the increased habitat fragmentation can result in a decrease of the total genetic diversity and in inbreeding depression in the local isolated groups.