Biogeographic Evidence for Selection on Mitochondrial DNA in North Pacific Walleye Pollack Theragra chalcogramma

• Published in: Journal of Heredity
• Main Authors: Grant, W. Stewart, Spies, Ingrid B., Canino, Michael F.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford University Press 2006
• Subjects: Article; Bering Sea; Pacific; Aleutian Island; Theragra chalcogramma
• Online Access: http://jhered.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/esl033v1; https://doi.org/10.1093/jhered/esl033

Three major mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplogroups were identified in 5 data sets for North Pacific and Bering Sea walleye pollack. 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, pollack at the western end of the Aleutian Island Archipelago were genetically more similar to Asian than to North American pollack, 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.