Allozyme Variations and Genetic Differentiation in Mesocricetus brandti Nehring, 1898 and Mesocricetus auratus (Waterhouse, 1839) (Mammalia: Rodentia)

Authors: NURİ YİĞİT, TOLGA KANKILIÇ, REYHAN ÇOLAK, ERCÜMENT ÇOLAK, ROLF GATTERMANN, KARSTEN NEUMANN, ŞAKİR ÖZKURT, MUHAMMED MOURADI GHARAKHELOO

Abstract: Allozyme variations were investigated by the electrophoretic analysis of 20 gene loci in 5 populations of Mesocricetus brandti and Mesocricetus auratus from Anatolia and Iran. Of the 20 loci analysed, 11 were monomorphic and fixed for the same allele in all 5 populations, 9 loci were polymorphic, and 1 locus differed between M. auratus and M. brandti populations. The overall mean of polymorphic loci for all the populations was 24.7% (range: 5.9%-41.2%). The mean fixation index value was F_{ST} = 0.0748, indicating a 7% genetic variation in the M. brandti populations. The obtained FST values indicated that there are moderate genetic differences between the populations of M. brandti. The finding that the number of migrants (Nm) was 3.09 also suggests effective gene flow across populations. The overall mean heterozygosity (Ho = direct count) for all populations (M. brandti and M. auratus) was 0.069 (range: 0.029-0.118 at different locations). The mean heterozygosity of M. brandti and M. auratus was Ho = 0.080 and Ho = 0,029, respectively. Nei's measure of genetic distance varied from D = 0.006 to D = 0.026 between populations of M. brandti. Nei's distances varied from D = 0.102 to D = 0.122 between M. auratus and M. brandti populations.

Keywords: Mesocricetus spp., allozyme, variation, Turkey

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