Comparative phylogeography of the plateau zokor (Eospalax baileyi) and its host-associated flea (Neopsylla paranoma) in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
BACKGROUND
Specific host-parasite systems often embody a particular co-distribution phenomenon, in which the parasite's phylogeographic pattern is dependent on its host. In practice, however, both congruent and incongruent phylogeographic patterns between the host and the parasite have been reported. Here, we compared the population genetics of the plateau zokor (Eospalax baileyi), a subterranean rodent, and its host-associated flea species, Neopsylla paranoma, with an aim to determine whether the two animals share a similar phylogeographic pattern.


RESULTS
We sampled 130 host-parasite pairs from 17 localities in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP), China, and sequenced a mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) segment (~2,500 bp), including the complete COI and COII genes. We also detected 55 zokor and 75 flea haplotypes. AMOVA showed that the percentage of variation among the populations of zokors constituted 97.10%, while the within population variation was only 2.90%; for fleas, the values were 85.68% and 14.32%, respectively. Moreover, the flea Fst (fixation index) values were significantly smaller than in zokor. Although the Fst values between zokors and fleas were significantly and positively correlated (N=105, R=0.439, p=0.000), only a small amount (R2=0.19) of the flea Fst variations could be explained by the zokor Fst variations. The two animals showed very distinct haplotype network structures from each other while co-phylogenetic analyses were unable to reject the hypothesis of an independence of speciation events.


CONCLUSIONS
Zokors and fleas have very distinct population genetic patterns from each other, likely due to the influence of other sympatrically-distributed vertebrates on the transmission of fleas.
Key Laboratory of Adaptation and Evolution of Plateau Biota, Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining, 810008, China. lingonghua@gmail.com.
Gonghua
G
Lin
Key Laboratory of Adaptation and Evolution of Plateau Biota, Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining, 810008, China. zf_lgh@163.com.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China. zf_lgh@163.com.
Fang
F
Zhao
Qinghai Institute for Endemic Disease Prevention and Control, Xining, 811602, China. mjy70315@163.com.
Hongjian
H
Chen
Key Laboratory of Adaptation and Evolution of Plateau Biota, Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining, 810008, China. xgdeng@nwipb.cas.cn.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China. xgdeng@nwipb.cas.cn.
Xiaogong
X
Deng
Key Laboratory of Adaptation and Evolution of Plateau Biota, Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining, 810008, China. jpsu@nwipb.cas.cn.
Jianping
J
Su
Key Laboratory of Adaptation and Evolution of Plateau Biota, Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining, 810008, China. nwipb@hotmail.com.
Tongzuo
T
Zhang
D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002681:China; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D006239:Haplotypes; D058507:Host Specificity / Q000235:genetics; D006790:Host-Parasite Interactions / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny; D058974:Phylogeography; D012377:Rodentia / Q000235:genetics* / Q000469:parasitology*; D005423:Siphonaptera / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D018609:Tibet
D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial