Genetic structure of Kurtzmaniella cleridarum, a cactus flower beetle yeast of the Sonoran and Mojave Deserts: speciation by distance?

We studied 95 isolates of the yeast species Kurtzmaniella cleridarum recovered from nitidulid beetles collected in flowers of cacti of the Sonoran Desert of southern Arizona and the Mojave Desert of California. They were characterized on the basis of mating type and ten polymorphic DNA markers in relation to their geographic distribution. Although all loci appeared to be free of strong linkage, the recovered haplotypes represented but a small fraction of possible combinations, indicating that abundant asexual reproduction of local genotypes accounts for much of population growth, even though the yeast is capable of sexual recombination in nature. Much of the genetic differentiation took place at the local level, indicating that gene flow across the various localities is limited. However, a relationship exists between overall genetic differentiation and geography over long distances. We estimated that populations separated by c. 1300 km would share no alleles in common and that such a separation might be enough to favor the onset of speciation.