Phylogeography of white-spotted Charr (Salvelinus leucomaenis) inferred from mitochondrial DNA sequences

The white-spotted charr (Salvelinus leucomaenis) is a coldwater-adapted fish distributed in far-eastern Asia. To assess phylogeographic patterns of this species over most of its range in the Japanese archipelago and Sakhalin Island, Russia, we examined nucleotide sequences of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) cytochrome b region (557 bp) in 141 individuals from 50 populations. A total of 33 (5.5%) nucleotide positions were polymorphic and defined 29 haplotypes. Phylogenetic analysis assigned the observed haplotypes to four main clades, which were characterized by the idiosyncrasies and discontinuity of geographic distributions. The nested clade analyses revealed that the geographical distribution patterns of some haplotypes and clades were explained by historical event such as past fragmentation. Although substantial genetic differentiation was found among the four main clades, their geographic distributions overlapped extensively in several regions. Since white-spotted charr can potentially use both freshwater and marine environments, coexistence among different lineages can be attributed to secondary contact through range expansion by migratory individuals during multiple glacial periods after interglacial isolation. Finally, our data demonstrate that the current subspecies designation does not reflect the phylogeography of this species based on mtDNA analysis. Hierarchical analysis (AMOVA) also showed that genetic variation was far more pronounced within subspecies than among subspecies (i.e., among discrete regions). These results suggest that each population, rather than each subspecies, must be treated as an evolutionarily significant unit.