Genetic Variability and Relationships in Pacific Salmon and Related Trout Based on Protein Variations

• Published in: Systematic Biology
• Main Authors: Utter, Fred M., Allendorf, Fred W., Hodgins, Harold O.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford University Press 1973
• Subjects: Research Papers; Keta; Pacific; Sockeye; Pink salmon
• Online Access: http://sysbio.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/22/3/257; https://doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/22.3.257

An investigation was made of the biochemical genetic variation within and among Pacific salmon ( Oncorhynchus spp.) and related trout ( Salmo spp.). Estimates (based on 19 to 23 loci) of proportion of loci polymorphic and average heterozygosity respectively were: pink salmon ( O. gorbuscha )—.111 and .014, chum salmon ( O. keta )—.100 and .006, sockeye salmon ( O. nerka )—.087 and .018, coho salmon ( O. kisutch )—.130 and .018, chinook salmon ( O. tshawytscha )—.130 and .015, and rainbow trout ( S. gairdneri )—.261 and .037. The differences of these two parameters between populations of salmon and rainbow trout were significant and may reflect the greater habitat diversity of rainbow trout contrasted with Pacific salmon species. Interspecies comparisons were made among the above species plus masu salmon ( O. masou ) and cutthroat trout ( S. clarkii ), based on allelic proteins of eight loci and more complex protein patterns assumed to reflect four additional loci. A dendrogram, constructed from indices of similarity which reflected pairwise interspecies protein differences, separated the species into two major groups; one group contained the two trout species which were paired closely and—more distantly—the masu salmon, while the other group contained the remaining five species of salmon. In the latter group the chinook and coho salmon were paired together as were the pink and sockeye salmon; the chum salmon was intermediate between the two subgroups.