Montana Luca, Caniglia Romolo, Galaverni Marco, Fabbri Elena, Ahmed Atidje, Bolfíková Barbora Černá, Czarnomska Sylwia D, Galov Ana, Godinho Raquel, Hindrikson Maris, Hulva Pavel, Jędrzejewska Bogumiła, Jelenčič Maja, Kutal Miroslav, Saarma Urmas, Skrbinšek Tomaž, Randi Ettore
Laboratorio di Genetica, Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale (ISPRA), Ozzano dell'Emilia, Bologna, Italy.
Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria.
PLoS One. 2017 May 10;12(5):e0176560. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0176560. eCollection 2017.
The survival of isolated small populations is threatened by both demographic and genetic factors. Large carnivores declined for centuries in most of Europe due to habitat changes, overhunting of their natural prey and direct persecution. However, the current rewilding trends are driving many carnivore populations to expand again, possibly reverting the erosion of their genetic diversity. In this study we reassessed the extent and origin of the genetic variation of the Italian wolf population, which is expanding after centuries of decline and isolation. We genotyped wolves from Italy and other nine populations at four mtDNA regions (control-region, ATP6, COIII and ND4) and 39 autosomal microsatellites. Results of phylogenetic analyses and assignment procedures confirmed in the Italian wolves a second private mtDNA haplotype, which belongs to a haplogroup distributed mostly in southern Europe. Coalescent analyses showed that the unique mtDNA haplotypes in the Italian wolves likely originated during the late Pleistocene. ABC simulations concordantly showed that the extant wolf populations in Italy and in south-western Europe started to be isolated and declined right after the last glacial maximum. Thus, the standing genetic variation in the Italian wolves principally results from the historical isolation south of the Alps.
孤立小种群的生存受到人口统计学和遗传因素的双重威胁。在欧洲大部分地区，由于栖息地变化、对其天然猎物的过度捕猎以及直接迫害，大型食肉动物数量在几个世纪里持续减少。然而，当前的野化趋势正促使许多食肉动物种群再次扩张，有可能扭转其遗传多样性的流失。在本研究中，我们重新评估了意大利狼种群遗传变异的程度和起源，该种群在经历了几个世纪的衰退和隔离后正在扩张。我们对来自意大利和其他九个种群的狼在四个线粒体DNA区域（控制区、ATP6、COIII和ND4）以及39个常染色体微卫星上进行了基因分型。系统发育分析和归属程序的结果证实，意大利狼中存在第二种私人线粒体DNA单倍型，它属于一个主要分布在欧洲南部的单倍群。溯祖分析表明，意大利狼中独特的线粒体DNA单倍型可能起源于更新世晚期。近似贝叶斯计算模拟结果一致显示，意大利和欧洲西南部现存的狼种群在末次盛冰期之后开始隔离并数量减少。因此，意大利狼现存的遗传变异主要源于阿尔卑斯山以南地区的历史隔离。
