Department of Zoology, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia.
Mol Phylogenet Evol. 2012 Sep;64(3):592-602. doi: 10.1016/j.ympev.2012.05.013. Epub 2012 May 27.
The three extant potoroo species of the marsupial genus Potorous -Potorous tridactylus, P. longipes and P. gilbertii - are all of conservation concern due to introduced predators and habitat loss associated with the European settlement of Australia. Robust phylogenies can be useful to inform conservation management, but past phylogenetic studies on potoroos have been unable to fully resolve relationships within the genus. Here, a multi-locus approach was employed, using three mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA): NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2, cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 and 12S rRNA and four nuclear DNA (nuDNA) gene regions: breast and ovarian cancer susceptibility gene, recombination activating gene-1, apolipoprotein B and omega globin. This was coupled with widespread geographic sampling of the broadly distributed P. tridactylus, to investigate the phylogenetic relationships within this genus. Analyses of the mtDNA identified five distinct and highly divergent lineages including, P. longipes, P. gilbertii and three distinct lineages within P. tridactylus (northern mainland, southern mainland and Tasmanian). P. tridactylus was paraphyletic with the P. gilbertii lineage, suggesting that cryptic taxa may exist within P. tridactylus. NuDNA sequences lacked the resolution of mtDNA. Although they resolved the three currently recognised species, they were unable to differentiate lineages within P. tridactylus. Current management of P. tridactylus as two sub-species (mainland and Tasmania) does not recognise the full scope of genetic diversity within this species, especially that of the mainland populations. Until data from more informative nuDNA markers are available, we recommend this species be managed as the following three subspecies: Potorous tridactylus tridactylus (southern Queensland and northern New South Wales); Potorous tridactylus trisulcatus (southern New South Wales and Victoria) Potorous tridactylus apicalis (Tasmania). Molecular dating estimated that divergences within Potorous occurred in the late Miocene through to the early Pliocene.
现存的三种袋熊属有袋动物——三趾袋熊（Potorous tridactylus）、长鼻袋熊（P. longipes）和吉尔伯特长鼻袋熊（P. gilbertii）——都因引入的捕食者和与欧洲人在澳大利亚定居相关的栖息地丧失而受到保护。强大的系统发育关系可以为保护管理提供有用的信息，但过去对袋熊的系统发育研究未能完全解决属内的关系。在这里，采用了一种多基因座方法，使用了三个线粒体 DNA（mtDNA）：NADH 脱氢酶亚单位 2、细胞色素 c 氧化酶亚单位 1 和 12S rRNA 以及四个核 DNA（nuDNA）基因区域：乳腺癌和卵巢癌易感基因、重组激活基因-1、载脂蛋白 B 和ω球蛋白。这与广泛分布的三趾袋熊的广泛地理采样相结合，以调查该属内的系统发育关系。mtDNA 分析确定了五个独特且高度分化的谱系，包括长鼻袋熊、吉尔伯特长鼻袋熊和三趾袋熊内的三个不同谱系（北部大陆、南部大陆和塔斯马尼亚）。三趾袋熊与吉尔伯特长鼻袋熊谱系是并系的，这表明在三趾袋熊中可能存在隐生种。nuDNA 序列缺乏 mtDNA 的分辨率。尽管它们解决了目前公认的三个物种，但它们无法区分三趾袋熊内的谱系。目前对三趾袋熊作为两个亚种（大陆和塔斯马尼亚）的管理并没有认识到该物种的全部遗传多样性，尤其是大陆种群的遗传多样性。在获得更具信息量的 nuDNA 标记数据之前，我们建议将该物种管理为以下三个亚种：三趾袋熊（南部昆士兰和北新南威尔士）；三趾袋熊（南新南威尔士和维多利亚）三趾袋熊（塔斯马尼亚）。分子定年估计，袋熊属的分歧发生在中新世晚期到上新世早期。
