Phylogenetic relationships of the Chinese cyprinid genus Rhinogobio Bleeker (Teleostei : Cyprinidae) based on sequences of the mitochondrial DNA control region, with comments on character adaptations

Rhinogobio is a cyprinid genus restricted to the river drainages of China. Sequences of the mitochondrial DNA control region were determined for four Rhinogohio species and one outgroup species, Coreius heterodon, to investigate the phylogenetic relationships within the genus. The control region of the Rhinogobio species ranges from 922 to 930 base pairs and comprises 930 base pairs in Coreius. Our phylogenetic analysis indicates two distinct lineages in the genus Rhinogobio. The first includes only R. ventralis. In the second lineage there are three species, two closely related species R. cylindricus and R. hunanensis, and their sister species R. typus. An analysis of character adaptations suggests an evolutionary trend in this genus towards a relatively lower body and caudal peduncle depth, a shorter dorsal fin, and a more anterior anus. In addition, there is a trend towards shorter barbels and relatively larger eyes. Some or all of these traits may be associated with a habitat shift from fast-flowing turbid rivers to slower-flowing clear river habitats.

Geographic distribution of Pelteobagrus fulvidraco and Pelteobagrus vachelli in the Yangtze River based on mitochondrial DNA markers

Three populations of Pelteobagrus vachelli and Pelteobagrus fulvidraco of the Yangtze River were examined by PCR-RFLP analysis of mitochondrial DNA fragments. ND5/6 and D-loop fragments were digested by 10 restriction endonucleases. Significant geographic variations between upstream and mid-downstream populations in the haplotype frequencies and restriction patterns were revealed. This suggested that the diversity of P. vachelli was high; 11 haplotypes were obtained from all the samples. The upstream population shared seven haplotypes and the middle and downstream populations shared another four haplotypes. Among all of the haplotypes, one haplotype was shared in 30 samples of the populations from middle and downstream, but it was not found in the upstream population. Any haplotype found in the upstream population was not detected in the middle and downstream populations. Genetic diversity of P. fulvidraco was low and only five haplotyes were detected from all 60 samples. Phylogenic relationships also indicated that the fishes from upstream and mid-downstream were apparently divided into two populations.

Genetic structure of Chinese sucker population Myxocyprinus asiaticus in the Yangtze River based on mitochondrial DNA marker

The sequencing analysis of the mitochondrial DNA control region (mtCR DNA) was performed to assess the genetic divergence and population structure of the Chinese sucker Myxocyprinus asiaticus (Cypriniformes Catostomidae) using four sample lots from natural populations of the Yangtze River. The mtCR DNA sequences of approximately 920 base pairs were obtained. A total of 223 nucleotide positions were polymorphic, and these defined 39 haplotypes. Of the 39 haplotypes, 37 (90%) were not shared, and among the populations as a whole there was little sharing of haplotypes. The average haplotype diversity (0.958) and the average nucleotide diversity (0.052) indicated a higher level of genetic diversity of Chinese sucker through the river. Analysis of molecular variation (AMOVA) of data revealed significant partitioning of variance (P<0.001) among populations (60.29%), and within populations (39.71%). The topology according to the neighbor joining and maximum parsimony methods showed mosaic composition of the 39 haplotypes, suggesting that the populations wore not completely divergent. The pairwise F statistic values, however, indicated that the population structuring existed to some extent among the geographic populations. There was a positive relationship between the aquatic distance and the genetic distance (Fst) among the populations (P<0.05). Based on our data, it is suggested that genetic drift, gene flow, and stochastic events are the possible factors influencing the population structure and genetic variation.

Phylogenetic relationships of glyptosternoid fishes (Siluriformes : Sisoridae) inferred from mitochondrial cytochrome b gene sequences

To explore phylogenetic relationships among glyptosternoid fishes, we determined nucleotide sequences of the complete mitochondrial cytochrome b gene region (1138 base pair). Thirteen species of glyptosternoid fishes and six species of non-glyptosternoids represent 10 sisorid genera were examined. Molecular phylogenetic trees were constructed using the maximum parsimony, minimum evolution, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian methods. Bayesian and maximum likelihood analyses support the monophyly of glyptosternoids, but our hypothesis of internal relationships differs from previous hypothesis. Results indicated that glyptosternoid is a monophyletic group and genera Glyptosternum and Exostoma are two basal species having a primitive position among it. Genera Euchiloglanis and Pareuchiloglanis form a sister-group. Then they form a sister-group with Pseudexostoma plus Oreoglanis. Our result also found that Pareuchiloglanis anteanalis might be considered as the synonyms of Parechiloglanis sinensis, and genus Euchiloglanis might have only one valid species, Euchiloglanis davidi. (C) 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Phylogeny of the East Asian cyprinids inferred from sequences of the mitochondrial DNA control region

With 210 genera and 2010 species, Cyprinidae is the largest freshwater fish family in the world. Several papers, based on morphological and molecular data, have been published and have led to some solid conclusions, such as the close relationships between North American phoxinins and European leuciscins. However, the relationships among major subgroups of this family are still not well resolved, especially for those East Asian groups. In the present paper, the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region, 896-956 base pairs, of 17 representative species of East Asian cyprinids was sequenced and compared with those of 21 other cyprinids to study their phylogenetic relationships. After alignment, there were 1051 sites. The comparison between pairwise substitutions and HKY distances showed that the mtDNA control region was suitable for phylogenetic study. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that there are two principal lineages in Cyprinidae: Cyprinine and Leuciscine. In Cyprinine, the relationships could be a basal Labeoinae, an intermediate Cyprininae, and a diversified Barbinae (including Schizothroaxinae). In Leuciscine, Rasborinae is at the basal position; Gobioninae and Leuciscinae are sister groups; the East Asian cultrin-xenocyprinin taxa form a large monophyletic group with some small affiliated groups; and the positions of Acheilognathinae and Tincinae are still uncertain.

Genetic divergence between Cyprinus carpio carpio and Cyprinus carpio haematopterus as assessed by mitochondrial DNA analysis, with emphasis on origin of European domestic carp

Although common carp is the major fish species in Asian and European aquaculture and many domestic varieties have occurred, there is a controversy about the origination of European domestic common carp. Some scientists affirmed that the ancestor of European domestic common carp was Danube River wild common carp, but others considered it might be Asian common carp. For elucidating origination of European domestic common carp, we chose two representative European domestic common carp strains (German mirror carp and Russian scattered scaled mirror carp) and one wild common carp strain of Cyprinus carpio carpio subspecies (Volga River wild common carp) and two Asian common carp strains, the Yangtze River wild common carp (Cyprinus carpio haematopterus) and traditionally domestic Xingguo red common carp, as experimental materials. ND5-ND6 and D-loop segments of mitochondrial DNA were amplified by polymerase chain reaction and analyzed through restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) and sequencing respectively. The results revealed that HaeIII and DdeI digestion patterns of ND5-ND6 segment and sequences of control region were different between European subspecies C. carpio carpio and Asian subspecies C. carpio haematopterus. Phylogenetic analysis showed that German mirror carp and Russian scattered scaled mirror carp belonged to two subspecies, C. carpio carpio and C. carpio haematopterus, respectively. Therefore, there were different ancestors for domestic carp in Europe: German mirror carp was domesticated from European subspecies C. carpio carpio and Russian scattered scaled mirror carp originated from Asian subspecies C. carpio haematopterus.

PCR-RFLP analysis of mitochondrial DNA ND5/6 region among 3 subspecies of common carp (Cyprinus carpio L.) and its application to genetic discrimination of subspecies

Mitochondrial DNA ND5/6 region was studied by PCR-RFLP analysis among ten representative strains belonging to three subspecies (Cyprinus carpio carpio, Cyprinus carpio haematopterus and Cyprinus carpio rubrofuscus) of common carp (Cyprinus carpio L.). A total of 2.4 kb fragment was amplified and subjected to restriction endonuclease analysis with nine restriction endonucleases subsequently. The results indicated that each subspecies owned one hyplotype and four restriction enzymes (Dde I, HaeIII, Taq I and Mbo I) produced diagnostic restriction sites which could be used for discriminating the three subspecies and as molecular genetic markers for assistant selective breeding of common carp.

Mitochondrial d-loop sequence variation and phylogeny of gobiobotine fishes

The mitochondrial DNA control region is amplified and sequenced from 8 genera and 10 species of gobiobotine fishes. The phylogenetic tree of Gobiobotinae and some representative species of other Cyprinid subfamilies obtained by the method of neighborhood joining, maximum likelihood and maximum parsimony with Danio rerio as an outgroup indicates that Gobiobotinae fishes are a monophyletic group which is close to Gobioninae subfamily. Gobiobotinae should be included into subfamily Gobioninae in terms of phylogenetic analysis. The research result supports that Gobiobotinae can be divided into genus Xenophysogobio and Gobiobotia. Xenophysogabio is the most primitive genera in the subfamily.

Mitochondrial DNA sequence variations and systematics of the genus Distoechodon (Teleostei : Cyprinidae)

In the present paper, nucleotide sequences (925-929 bases) of the mitochondrial D-loop region and complete cytochrome b gene (1140 bases) were determined and analysed to investigate the systematic status of the genus Distoechodon . CSB1, CSB2, CSB3, CSB-D and ETAS were successfully identified in the D-loop region. The sequence variations among different samples suggest that Distoechodon compressus is a valid species and has its distribution in Taiwan, and that D. tumirostris multispinnis does not seem to be a valid species.

Mitochondrial cytochrome b sequence variations and phylogeny of the East Asian bagrid catfishes

The mitochondrial DNA cytochrome b gene was sequenced from 8 bagrid catfishes in China. Aligned with cytochrome b sequences from 9 bagrid catfishes in Japan, Korea and Russia retrieved from GenBank, and selected Silurus meridionalis, Liobagrus anguillicauda, Liobagrus reini and Phenacogrammus interruptus as outgroups, we constructed a matrix of 21 DNA sequences. The Kimura's two-parameter distances were calculated and molecule phylogenetic trees were constructed by using the maximum parsimony (MP) and neighbor-joining (NJ) methods. The results show that (i) there exist 3-bp deletions of mitochondrial cytochrome b gene compared with cypriniforms and characiforms; (ii) the molecular phylogenetic tree suggests that bagrid catfishes form a monophyletic group, and the genus Mystus is the earliest divergent in the East Asian bagrid catfishes, as well as the genus Pseudobagrus is a monophyletic group but the genus Pelteobagrus and Leiocassis are complicated; and 60 the evolution rate of the East Asian bagrids mitochondrial cytochrome b gene is about 0.18%-0.30% sequence divergence per million years.

Sequence variations in the mitochondrial DNA control region and their implications for the phylogeny of the Cypriniformes

The mitochondrial DNA control region of six cobitids and two catostomids was sequenced and compared with sequences of other cypriniforms to study their sequence variations. The extended termination associated sequence (ETAS) domain, central domain, and conserved sequence block (CSB) domain were partitioned and the ETAS sequence, CSB-D, CSB-E, ECSB-F, CSB1, CSB2, and CSB3 were identified. It is suggested that the "hairpin" TACAT-ATGTA is the key sequence of ETAS and GACATA is the symbol of CSB1. Phylogenetic analysis based on the CSB domain showed that all cyprinids evolved as one monophyletic group, while the non-cyprinid Cypriniformes could be another monophyly that is in accordance with the hypothesis proposed by Siebert. Further analysis of the phylogeny of the Cobitoidei was also conducted and it is tentatively suggested that their relationships are Catostomidae + (Gyrinocheilidae + (Botiinae + (Homalopteridae + (Cobitinae + Nemacheilinae)))).

Taxonomic re-evaluation of Aphanizomenon flos-aquae NH-5 based on morphology and 16S rRNA gene sequences

The taxonomy of Aphanizomenon flos-aquae strain NH-5, a producer of cyanotoxins, was re-evaluated by comparison with six other Aphanizomenon strains using morphological characteristics and 16S rRNA gene sequences. Strain NH-5 was concluded to be improperly identified as Aph. flos-aquae based upon (1) lack of bundle formation in the trichomes, (2) location of akinetes next to heterocytes, (3) lower similarities (less than 97.5%) in the 16S rRNA gene sequences relative to Aph. flos-aquae strains, and (4) comparison within a phylogenetic tree constructed from 16S rRNA gene sequences. The Aphanizomenon strains investigated in this study are classified to four morphological groups as described by the classical taxonomy of Komarek & Kovacik (1989). This classification was supported from the phylogenetic results of 16S rRNA gene sequences. This study also discusses the generic boundaries between Aphanizomenon and Anabaena.

线粒体 DNA 相关疾病的系统发育学研究

线粒体是细胞内提供能量的细胞器，并负责调节细胞的程序化死亡。因遗传 缺陷引起的线粒体功能障碍会导致ATP 合成障碍、能量产生不足而出现一系列 病症。线粒体DNA 相关疾病目前日益受到广泛的关注，然而在线粒体DNA 相 关疾病领域常用的病例对照法容易受到遗传背景、群体分层、数据质量等方面因 素的影响以致经常得到假阳性结果。系统发育分析方法有助于解决这些方面的问 题，因此我们以此分析方法开展了如下工作： 首先我们对线粒体DNA C1494T 突变及其所属单倍型类群和氨基糖苷类药 物性耳聋之间的关联进行了研究。之前有研究报道了两个中国氨基糖苷类药物性 耳聋的家系，经过对先征者的线粒体DNA 全序列测定在这两个家系中都发现了 C1494T 突变。我们采用系统发育方法分析这两个家系先征者的全序列后，发现 这两个个体都属于线粒体单倍型A。巧合的是，在我们之前的研究中，在一个来 自武汉的汉族样本WH6980 中也有C1494T 突变，而且该个体同样也属于单倍型 类群A。这不由得使人想到：C1494T 突变可能是单倍型类群A 中一个分支的界 定位点，或者，受母系遗传背景的影响，该突变偏好于在A 类群中发生。那么 很有可能单倍型类群A对能够引发氨基糖苷类药物性耳聋的C1494T 突变的发生 有促进作用。 为了验证这个假设，我们从三个省份随机选取了553 个正常个体来检测 C1494T 突变，以调查该突变在普通人群中的发生频率。另外，我们从1823 个中 国人样本中筛选出属于单倍型类群A 的111 个体，在这111 个个体中检测C1494T 突变，以调查该突变是否为单倍型类群A 特有的变异位点。我们的结果表明： 在553 个随机样本群中没有检测到C1494T 突变，这说明该突变是一个稀有的突 变，在正常人群中发生的频率极低。另外，在111 个属于单倍型类群A 的样本 群中，我们也没有检测到C1494T 突变的存在，这说明该突变并非单倍型类群A 特有的变异位点。经过对带有C1494T 突变的全序列进行综合的系统发育学分析 表明，这三条序列的C1494T 突变应是来源于同一次突变事件。同时，根据序列 之间共享变异位点的状况推断，两个耳聋家系具有很近的母系亲缘关系，我们推 测这两个家系的C1494T 突变是来源于一位共同的近期母系祖先。综合这些结果 表明，C1494T 突变的发生与单倍型类群即母系遗传背景没有相关性，是属于在人群中频率极低的散发性突变。 我们又将系统发育分析的方法应用于肿瘤相关的线粒体DNA 突变的研究 中。线粒体在细胞的自由基产生以及细胞凋亡中扮演重要角色；有研究报道线粒 体功能的缺陷能导致癌症的发生，同时又有很多报道指出癌变组织的线粒体基因 组存在异常。为探讨癌组织中线粒体基因组的变异情况及其在癌症的发生和发展 中所扮演的角色，我们选取乳腺癌早期患者为研究对象。 近年来，有大量的研究都报导了在癌组织中存在高频率高密度的线粒体 DNA 体细胞突变，并认为这些突变在肿瘤发生过程中可能具有功能相关性。但 这些研究存在着不可回避的问题，总结来讲归为三个方面：①数据质量差：很多 前面报道的突变数据，经系统发育分析，发现存在不少因样本交叉污染所造成的 假阳性突变。②所测片断太短。大多数研究只是检测了D-loop 区，只占了整个 基因组的约十六分之一，很难全面反映问题。③对照设置有问题，许多研究进行 简单的case-control 分析，忽略了不同个体间母系遗传背景的差异，导致大量假 阳性突变的产生。 针对以上问题的存在，我们基于系统发育分析的方法在中国的乳腺癌病人中 开展了一项研究。分别取得10 例乳腺癌早期患者的癌组织、癌旁组织、以及远 端正常组织；提取了总DNA，对每一份组织样品进行线粒体全基因组测序。这 样做有两个研究目的：第一是调查在严格的质量控制手段下，排除交叉污染所造 成的假阳性突变后，在癌症病人中是否仍然能观察到高频率高密度的线粒体 DNA 体细胞突变。第二个目的是调查中国乳腺癌患者线粒体DNA 体细胞突变情 况，为乳腺癌早期诊断提供有效的信息。 为了避免过去部分研究中出现的问题，我们采取了相应的措施。首先是在严 格的质量控制下，我们对同一个病人的三种不同组织，即癌组织，癌旁组织，正 常组织中的线粒体基因组进行全序列测定的方式来检测体细胞突变。同时将所测 得线粒体全基因组序列进行系统发育的分析；结果表明属于同一个病人的不同组 织都能忠实的聚到一支，而且每一条全序列都完整的带有所属单倍型特有的界定 位点，不存在任何样本交叉或者污染的情况；这样进一步确证了我们数据的可靠 性。同时经过这样的比较，可以非常清晰的筛选出在某一种组织类型中所发生的 体细胞突变。来自10 例病人的癌组织，癌旁组织和正常组织的29 条（7#患者远端正常组 织没有得到）线粒体基因组全序列中，我们只检测到了两个体细胞突变（T2275C 和A8601G）。这两个突变经PCR 克隆试验的验证，在远端正常组织中均不存在， 是真实的体细胞突变。突变A8601G 同时出现在3#患者的癌组织和癌旁组织中； 提示线粒体DNA 的体细胞突变可能先于细胞的癌变，这可能对乳腺癌的早期临 床诊断具有一定的意义。突变T2275C 只出现在6#患者的癌组织中，该突变位于 16S rRNA 基因非常保守的位点上，我们对该突变位点潜在的生物学作用作了进 一步的讨论。 在我们研究的病例中体细胞突变的比率要远远低于先前的报道；造成差异的 主要原因可能是因为我们采取了严格的质量控制手段。综合我们的研究结果表 明，先前所报道的乳腺癌组织中的线粒体基因体细胞突变的频率存在被高估的现 象。目前线粒体突变与肿瘤发生的关系还有待于更深入的研究，同时我们呼吁本 领域的研究要加强数据质量的可靠性。我们的研究表明，系统发育的分析方法在 线粒体DNA 相关疾病的研究中是有效的，因此我们推荐在线粒体DNA 相关疾 病的研究中进行推广。