Genetic variation of the mitochondrial cytochromebsequence in KoreanRana rugosa(amphibia; ranidae)

Abstract

Nucleotide sequences of a 501 base‐pair (bp) fragment in the mitochondrial cytochrome b (cyt b) gene were analyzed for 12 populations of Rana rugosa from Korea and Japan using a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and direct silver sequencing. Two genetically distinct groups (type‐A and type‐B) were found in Korea. Type‐A was found throughout most of South Korea and type‐B was restricted to the mid‐southeastern regions (Samchok, Yongdok, Chongsong and Pohang). But in the Tonghae population, both types were found. The level of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequence differences ranged from 0% to 0.8% among six populations of type‐A, and 0 to 1.0% among 4 populations of type‐B. However, sequence differences between type‐A and type‐B ranged from 5.4% to 6.6%. Using Kimura's two‐parameter distance, the level of genetic sequence divergence between type‐A and type‐B was 6.7%. The Japanese R. rugosa was clustered very far from the Korean R. rugosa with 14.7%. In the neighbor‐joining and UPGMA tree, all Korean samples were grouped, but subdivided into two types in 99% of the bootstrap iteration