Biogeographic evidence for selection on mitochondrial DNA in North Pacific walleye pollock Theragra chalcogramma

Three major mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplogroups were identified in 5 data sets for North Pacific and Bering Sea walleye pollock. The common haplogroup A showed mirror-image clines on both sides of the North Pacific with high frequencies in southern areas (P(A) > 0.84) and low frequencies in the Bering Sea (P(A) < 0.36). Two additional haplogroups showed complimentary, but weaker, clines in the opposite direction. These clines are unlikely to have arisen by chance during postglacial colonizations of coastal waters in the North Pacific and Bering Sea, and they do not appear to reflect isolation by distance. Contrary to these trends, pollock at the western end of the Aleutian Island Archipelago were genetically more similar to Asian than to North American pollock, a pattern likely reflecting postglacial colonization. Haplogroup F(ST) values for a given haplotype diversity were significantly larger than expected under the island model of migration and random drift, a result implicating natural selection. Frequencies of haplogroup A were highly correlated with sea surface temperature (r > 0.91), whereas frequencies of groups B and C showed negative correlations with temperature. Selection may be operating directly on mtDNA variability or may be mediated through cytonuclear interactions. This biogeographic evidence adds to a growing body of literature indicating that selection may play a greater role in sculpting mtDNA variability than previously thought.