Biogeographic implications of cytochrome b sequences and allozymes in sockeye (Oncorhynchus nerka)

Abstract

Nucleotide sequence and restriction site analyses of the cytochrome b gene of mitochondrial DNA revealed three relatively common haplotypes among sockeye salmon (N = 80) from eight populations representing four major drainages from Kamchatka (Russia), Alaska, and British Columbia. Macrogeographic variation in mtDNA was compared to that of three variable allozyme loci assayed for a much larger number of fish (N = 779). Sockeye from the Fraser River drainage of British Columbia were distinct from those from the other three drainages in both analyses. The GT haplotype was found in all four populations, but the GC haplotype was absent from the Fraser River (southern) drainage and present in the three northern drainages. The AC haplotype was common in the Fraser River drainage (frequency = 0.4), rare in the Skeena River drainage of British Columbia (0.1), and absent from the Alaskan and Russian samples. Cluster analysis (UPGMA) of allozyme allele frequencies showed a similar pattern of divergence with the populations from the Fraser River drainage being most divergent and clustering at an identity value of 0.93 with the rest of the populations. Five of the remaining six populations clustered at or above an identity value of 0.99. These data, combined with allozyme data for sockeye and mitochondrial DNA data for chinook salmon and the Steller sea lion, indicate the presence of a phylogeographic break between northern and southern populations ostensibly derived from glacial refugia in Beringia and the Columbia River, respectively.