Genetics, Vol. 156, 1933-1947, December 2000, Copyright © 2000

Heteroplasmy in the mtDNA Control Region of Sturgeon (Acipenser, Huso and Scaphirhynchus)

Arne Ludwiga, Bernie Mayb, Lutz Debusc, and Ingo Jenneckensd
a Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, 12561 Berlin, Germany,
b Department of Animal Science, University of California, Davis, California 95616,
c Institute of Zoology, University of Rostock, 18051 Rostock, Germany
d Institute for Animal Breeding and Genetics, University of Göttingen, 37075 Göttingen, Germany

Corresponding author: Arne Ludwig, Institut für Gewässerökologie und Binnenfischerei, Müggelseedamm 310, 12561 Berlin, Germany., al{at}igb-berlin.de (E-mail)

Communicating editor: D. J. GRUNWALD

Data from 1238 fishes from 19 sturgeon species and 1 paddlefish were used to analyze heteroplasmy in sturgeon. Lengths of central repeat units ranged from 74 to 83 bp among sturgeon species. No repeat sequence was found in the paddlefish, Polyodon spathula. A general feature of the repeat units was the presence of termination associated sequence (TAS) motifs. About 50% of 138 interspecific mutations observed among the D-loop sequences are located 10 bp down- and upstream from these TAS motifs. Interestingly, most homoplasmic species showed deletions upstream to the TAS motifs, whereas deletions downstream to the TAS motifs observed in two species do not seem to preclude heteroplasmy. Calculations of secondary structures and thermal stabilities of repeat units showed {Delta}G values for all heteroplasmic species to be <-8 and for most homoplasmic species {Delta}G value to be >-8. Most heteroplasmic fishes had two and/or three repeat units. No homoplasmic sturgeon with >2 repeat units were observed. Molecular phylogeny based on the entire cytochrome b showed that heteroplasmy probably resulted from a single evolutionary event. Our data demonstrate that heteroplasmy is present in most sturgeon species and suggest that the thermal stability of the secondary structure of the repeat unit in combination with mutations downstream of the TAS sequences influences heteroplasmy.




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