title: Incongruence between mtDNA phylogeny and morphologial and ecological characters in loaches of the genus Lefua (Balitoridae, Cypriniformes).
abstract: To elucidate the phylogenetic position of Lefua loaches from Aichi and Shizuoka Prefectures of Honshu Island, Japan, we determined their nucleotide sequences for the mitochondrial D-loop region and compared these to sequences from four other Lefua species: L. costata, L. nikkonis, L. echigonia, and L. sp. Loaches identified as L. sp. on the basis of morphology comprised a clade (the L. sp. Tokai population) that grouped together with L. echigonia; hence, the processes involved in evolution within the genus Lefua were unclear. We performed randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analyses to obtain genetic information on nuclear DNA. The RAPD patterns of the L. sp. Tokai population differed from those of the local L. echigonia and L. sp. populations. The L. sp. Tokai population was similar to L. echigonia with regard to mitochondrial DNA but differed from L. echigonia and L. sp. with respect to nuclear DNA; this indicated that the evolutionary background of the L. sp. Tokai population was unique. We suggest that introgression of mitochondria occurred from L. echigonia to the L. sp. Tokai population, and speculate on the process of evolution of the latter population of Lefua. As with six L. echigonia populations and two L. sp. populations, we regard the L. sp. Tokai population as an evolutionary significant unit (ESU) that qualifies for protection as an endangered loach.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Education and Human Sciences, University of Yamanashi, Kofu, Yamanashi, Japan. miyazaki@yamanashi.ac.jp
authors.forename: Jun-Ichi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Miyazaki
authors.forename: Koushin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakao
authors.forename: Motohiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mihara
authors.forename: Takehiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sakai
authors.forename: Yosihide
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gunji
authors.forename: Koji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tojo
authors.forename: Keiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Muraoka
authors.forename: Kazumi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hosoya
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D003531:Cypriniformes / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics; D004463:Ecology; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D014644:Genetic Variation / Q000235:genetics*; D007564:Japan; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D019105:Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA Technique / Q000662:veterinary; D016415:Sequence Alignment / Q000662:veterinary; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013045:Species Specificity