Molecular phylogenetic status of the Korean goral and Japanese serow based on partial sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene.
To investigate the molecular phylogenetic status of the Korean goral, Nemorhaedus caudatus raddeanus, and Japanese serow, Capricornis crispus, we determined partial sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene of twelve Korean gorals and sixteen Japanese serows, and compared them with those of the major lineages of Rupicaprini species including two other Nemorhaedus species and two other Capricornis species. The Korean gorals examined possessed two haplotypes with only one nucleotide difference between them, while the Japanese serows showed slightly higher sequence diversity with five haplotypes. Genetic distances and molecular phylogenetic trees indicated that there is considerable genetic divergence between the Korean goral and N. caudatus (the Chinese goral) [Groves and Shields (1996)], but virtually none between Korean and Russian gorals. The Korean and Russian gorals may therefore be distinct from the Chinese goral. The data highlight the importance of conservation of the goral populations of these regions, and the need to reconsider the taxonomic status of Korean and Russian gorals. Our study also clearly demonstrated sufficient genetic distance between serows and gorals to justify their assignment to separate genera. Of the three species of Capricornis, the Formosan serow, C. swinhoei is more closely related to C. sumatraensis than to the Japanese serow, suggesting that the Formosan serow is a distinct species. Preliminary data on intraspecific genetic variation in the Japanese serow are also presented.
Min
Mi-Sook
MS
Conservation Genome Resource Bank (CGRB) for Korean Wildlife, and Research Institute for Veterinary Science, College of Veterinary Medicine and School of Agricultural Biotechnology, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-742, Korea.
Okumura
Hideo
H
Jo
Dong-Jun
DJ
An
Jung-Hwa
JH
Kim
Kyung-Seok
KS
Kim
Chang-Bae
CB
Shin
Nam-Sik
NS
Lee
Mun-Han
MH
Han
Chang-Hoon
CH
Voloshina
Inna V
IV
Lee
Hang
H
D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D003573:Cytochrome b Group / Q000235:genetics*; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000032:analysis*; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006041:Goats / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*; D006239:Haplotypes; D007564:Japan; D007723:Korea; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000201:enzymology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
D003573:Cytochrome b Group; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial