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Evolutionary characteristics of the mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase subunit 6 gene in some populations of four sympatric Mustela species (Mustelidae, Mammalia) from central Europe

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Abstract

Background

Selection on or reticulate evolution of mtDNA is documented in various mammalian taxa and could lead to misleading phylogenetic conclusions if not recognized. We sequenced the MT-ND6 gene of four sympatric Mustelid species of the genus Mustela from some central European populations. We hypothesised positive selection on MT-ND6, given its functional importance and the different body sizes and life histories of the species, even though climatic differences may be unimportant for adaptation in sympatry.

Methods and results

MT-ND6 genes were sequenced in 187 sympatric specimens of weasels, Mustela nivalis, stoats, M. erminea, polecats, M. putorius, and steppe polecats, M. eversmannii, from eastern Austria and of fourteen allopatric polecats from eastern-central Germany. Median joining networks, neighbour joining and maximum likelihood analyses as well as Bayesian inference grouped all species according to earlier published phylogenetic models. However, polecats and steppe polecats, two very closely related species, shared the same two haplotypes. We found only negative selection within the Mustela sequences, including 131 downloaded ones covering thirteen species. Positive selection was observed on three MT-ND6 codons of other mustelid genera retrieved from GenBank.

Conclusions

Negative selection for MT-ND6 within the genus Mustela suggests absence of both environmental and species-specific effects of cellular energy metabolism despite large species-specific differences in body size. The presently found shared polymorphism in European polecats and steppe polecats may result from ancestral polymorphism before speciation and historical or recent introgressive hybridization; it may indicate mtDNA capture of steppe polecats by M. putorius in Europe.

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Data availability

Sequences are deposited in GenBank under accession numbers PP458239 - PP458264. All relevant data is incorporated in the manuscript and supplementary data.

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Acknowledgements

We thank A. Haiden for supporting with laboratory work.

Funding

The authors declare that no funds, grants, or other support were received during the preparation of this manuscript. Partial financial support was provided by Wildlife Research - F. Suchentrunk (Vienna).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Functional Physiology and Valorization of Bioresources, Higher Institute of Biotechnology of Béja, University of Jendouba, Jendouba, Tunisia

    Ghada Tissaoui, Asma Awadi & Hichem Ben Slimen

  2. Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Savoyenstrasse 1, Vienna, 1160, Austria

    Franz Suchentrunk & Steve Smith

  3. Landesamt für Umweltschutz Sachsen-Anhalt, Dez. 44 WZI, Lindenstraße 18, 39606, Iden, Germany

    Antje Weber

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Contributions

F.S. and H.BS. conceived and designed the study. G.T. did the laboratory work. G.T., A.A., H.BS., S.S., A.W., and F.S. contributed samples or/and to the data analyses. G.T., H.BS. and F.S. wrote the paper and all authors contributed to the drafts before submission. All authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Hichem Ben Slimen.

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all samples were provided by hunters who obtained the specimens in the course of regular hunting management practices, and no animals were killed exclusively for this or any other scientific project. Steppe polecats that are partly under protection in the EU/Austria since 2014, were obtained either earlier or collected as road kills afterwards.

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Tissaoui, G., Suchentrunk, F., Awadi, A. et al. Evolutionary characteristics of the mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase subunit 6 gene in some populations of four sympatric Mustela species (Mustelidae, Mammalia) from central Europe. Mol Biol Rep 51, 575 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-024-09505-6

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