Phylogeographic and population genetic analyses reveal Pleistocene isolation followed by high gene flow in a wide ranging, but endangered, freshwater mussel.

ABSTRACT: Freshwater organisms of North America have had their contemporary genetic structure shaped by vicariant events, especially Pleistocene glaciations. Life history traits promoting dispersal and gene flow continue to shape population genetic structure. Cumberlandia monodonta, a widespread but imperiled (IUCN listed as endangered) freshwater mussel, was examined to determine genetic diversity and population genetic structure throughout its range. Mitochondrial DNA sequences and microsatellite loci were used to measure genetic diversity and simulate demographic events during the Pleistocene using approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) to test explicit hypotheses explaining the evolutionary history of current populations. A phylogeny and molecular clock suggested past isolation created two mtDNA

SUBMITTER: Inoue K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3931176 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature