Evidence of dispersal between the Yenisei and the Lena river basins during the late Pleistocene within the whitefish (Coregonus lavaretus pidschian) complex

The Coregonus lavaretus (Linnaeus, 1758) complex is a morphologically and genetically diverse group of whitefish. Its taxonomic structure has been controversial for almost a century. At least 25 forms of C. lavaretus have been described in Siberia, but there is still no consensus on their intraspecific structure and taxonomy. Coregonus lavaretus pidschian (Gmelin, 1789) was described as a subspecies of C. lavaretus. Recently, it was assumed that this subspecies is also a complex. The purpose of this study was to compare the distributions of pidschian-like whitefish haplotypes in two basins of large Siberian rivers, Yenisei and Lena, and to assess the gene flow between basins of these rivers, which were connected after the last glaciation. The sequence of the following mitochondrial DNA genes, 16S rRNA (partial), tRNA-Leu (full), NADH dehydrogenase subunit 1 (full), tRNA-Ile (full), and tRNA-Gln (partial), were used for the inference of intraspecific genetic structure of C. l. pidschian. Whitefish haplotypes were clustered into two groups according to their distribution between two large Siberian river basins; however, there were shared haplotypes indicating events of migration and hybridization, which could occur when Bolshoi Yenisei and Lena river systems were connected after the last glaciation (the Late Pleistocene).info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Phylogenetic position of whitefish Coregonus lavaretus (L.) from Teletskoye Lake (Siberia) based on complete mitochondrial DNA

The taxonomy of the European whitefish species complex Coregonus lavaretus (L.) is extremely intricate. Owing to wide distribution from Central Europe to water bodies in Chukotka and high biological plasticity, many forms with different taxonomic status have been described. Teletskoye Lake is inhabited by two endemic whitefishes: Pravdin's whitefish Coregonus lavaretus pravdinellus and Teletskoye whitefish C. smitti. Previously, a total of 106 mitogenomes of whitefishes from the C. lavaretus complex from different populations of the Baltic and North seas were sequenced; however, there are no such data for whitefishes from Siberia. We obtain the mitochondrial genomes of C. smitti and C. l. pravdinellus, 16 738 bp in length, with high coverage. The mitogenomes differ in 46 positions (0.27%). Comparative analysis of C. lavaretus mitogenomes from water bodies of Europe and Teletskoye Lake confirms the common origin of the populations from the eastern part of the Baltic Sea and water bodies of Siberia. In addition, analysis of the complete mitogenomes of C. smitti and C. l. pravdinellus does not confirm their different taxonomic status, at least on the basis of mtDNA