Molecular Phylogeny of Genus Alburnoides Jeitteles, 1861 (Teleostei: Cyprinidae) in Turkey Based on 16S rRNA Gene


Bektaş Y., Turan D.

Mediterranean International Conference on Research in Applied Sciences, 22 - 24 April 2022, pp.134-135

  • Publication Type: Conference Paper / Summary Text
  • Page Numbers: pp.134-135
  • Karadeniz Technical University Affiliated: No

Abstract

In this study, the phylogeny of the Spirlins Alburnoides genus distributed in Turkish freshwaters was determined by analyzing the mitochondrial 16S rRNA (1688 bp) gene sequences of 682 individuals representing 50 populations of 12 species throughout their geographic distribution. K2P-based genetic distances between Alburnoides species range from 0.2% (A. velioglu & A. emineae) to 5.4% (A. fasciatus & A. symrnae). The highest intraspecific genetic diversity was determined for A. tzanevi, which has the widest geographic distribution with 0.5%. The number of species-specific SNPs ranged from 2 (A. eichwaldii) to 22 (A. symrnae), except for A. emineae and A. velioglui. Haplotype network and phylogenetic analyzes of sixty-six 16S rRNA haplotypes identified for Alburnoides species (neighbor joining and maximum likelihood) resulted in nearly similar tree topologies with medium/high confidence values that genetically supported 11 of 12 morphological species. Therefore, the phylogenetic analyzes performed did not support the species differentiation/existence of A. velioglu and A. emineae and indicated the necessity of reconsidering the taxonomic status of these species.  This study has contributed to our understanding of the taxonomic status of the Alburnoides genus in Turkish freshwaters, which has the potential to contain a high rate of endemic species. As a result, species-genetic identification was performed successfully based on the data obtained by molecular methods and the limits of the distribution areas of the species were determined to a large extent.