Abstract
Sturgeon disappeared from the Rhône River in the mid 70’s without certitude about which species it was and about the existence of a sympatry between European sturgeon, Acipenser sturio, and Adriatic sturgeon, A. naccarii, in this watershed. In order to reach a reliable specific determination of this extinct sturgeon population, archaeozoological remains of the Jardin d’Hiver in Arles city, on the Rhône river banks, were genetically analysed, following strict criteria of authentication for the ancient DNA work. The rich collection of Arles sturgeon bone remains stems from human activities between the 6th and the 2nd Century BC. Sequences of 86 bp of the cytochrome b gene were obtained on four bones, from different anatomical parts of the fish and from different archaeological layers. All gave A. sturio diagnostic sequences. This preliminary analysis is an essential first step in the project of sturgeon reintroduction in the Rhône River. Thus, further analyses on a larger sample are necessary to comfort this result and to solve the question of sympatry with A. naccarii.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Almodovar A, Machordom A, Suarez J (2000) Preliminary results from characterization of Iberian Peninsula sturgeon based on analysis of the mt-DNA cytochrome b. Bol Inst Esp Oceanogr 16:17–27
Arcelin P (2000) Arles protohistorique, agglomération et structuration urbaine. In: Baudat M (ed) Espace et urbanisme d’Arles, des origines à nos jours. Arles, pp 7–23
Arnason U, Gullberg A, Janke A, Joss J, Elmerot C (2004) Mitogenomic analyses of deep gnathostome divergences: a fish is a fish. Gene 333:61–70
Birstein VJ, Bemis WE, Waldman JR (1995) The threatened status of acipenseriform fishes: a summary. In: Birstein VJ, Bemis WE, Waldman JR (eds) Sturgeon biodiversity and conservation. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht-Boston-London, pp 427–435
Birstein VJ, Bemis WE, Waldman JR (1997) The threatened status of acipenseriform species: a summary. Environ Biol Fish 48:427–435
Birstein VJ, Doukakis P, DeSalle R (2000) Polyphyly of mtDNA lineages in the Russian sturgeon, Acipenser gueldenstaedtii: forensic and evolutionary implications. Conserv Genet 1:81–88
Brown JR, Gilbert TL, Kowbel DJ, O’Hara PJ, Buroker NE, Beckenbach AT, Smith MJ (1989) Nucleotide sequence of the apocytochrome B gene in white sturgeon mitochondrial DNA. Nucleic Acids Res 17:43–89
De la Herran R, Robles F, Lorente JA, Ruiz Rejon C, Garrido-Ramos MA, Ruiz Rejon M (2004) Genetic identification of western Mediterranean sturgeons and its implication for conservation. Conserv Genet 5:545–551
Desse-Berset N (1994) Sturgeons of the Rhône during Protohistory in Arles (6th–2nd century BC). In: Fish exploitation in the past. Proceedings of the 7th meeting of the ICAZ fish remains working group (Louvain, Sept. 1993). Ann Mus Roy Afr Centr Tervueren 274:81–90
Doukakis P, Birstein VJ, DeSalle R, Ludwig AN, Ludwig A, Machordom A, Almodovar A, Elvira B (2000) Failure to confirm previous identification of two putative museum specimens of the Atlantic sturgeon, Acipenser sturio, as the Adriatic sturgeon, A. naccarii. Mar Biol 136:373–377
Dugo MA, Kreiser BR, Ross ST, Slack WT, Heise RJ, Bowen BR (2004) Conservation and management implications of fine-scale genetic structure of Gulf sturgeon in the Pascagoula River, Mississippi. J Appl Ichthyol 20:243–251
Elvira B, Almodovar A (1999) A morphological study of native sturgeon Acipenser sturio in Spain, and recent records of exotic Siberian sturgeon A. baerii. J Appl Ichthyol 15:278–279
Galtier N, Gouy M, Gautier C (1996) SEAVIEW and PHYLO_WIN: two graphic tools for sequence alignment and molecular phylogeny. Comp Appl Biosci 12:543–548
Garrido-Ramos MA, Soriguer MC, De la Herran R, Jamilena M, Ruiz-Rejon C, Domezain A, Hernando JA, Ruiz-Rejon M (1997) Morphometric and genetic analysis as proof for the existence of two sturgeon species in the Guadalquivir river. Mar Biol 129:33–39
Gilbert MT, Hansen AJ, Willerslev E, Rudbeck L, Barnes I, Lynnerup N, Cooper A (2003) Characterization of genetic miscoding lesions caused by postmortem damage. Am J Hum Genet 72:48–61
Gilbert MT, Bandelt H, Hofreiter M, Barnes I (2005) Assessing ancient DNA studies. Trends Ecol Evol 20:541–544
Guindon S, Gascuel O (2003) A simple, fast, and accurate algorithm to estimate large phylogenies by maximum likelihood. Syst Biol 52:696–704
Guindon S, Lethiec F, Duroux P, Gascuel O (2005) PHYML Online–a web server for fast maximum likelihood-based phylogenetic inference. Nucleic Acids Res 33:W557–559
Hänni C, Brousseau T, Laudet V, Stehelin D (1995) Isopropanol precipitation removes PCR inhibitors from ancient bone extracts. Nucleic Acids Res 23:881–882
Hofreiter M, Jaenicke V, Serre D, Haeseler von A, Pääbo S (2001) DNA sequences from multiple amplifications reveal artifacts induced by cytosine deamination in ancient DNA. Nucleic Acids Res 29:4793–4799
Holcik J, Kinzelbach R, Sokolov LI, Vassilev VP (1989) General introduction to fishes acipenseriformes. In: Holcik J, Kinzelbach R, Sokolov LI, Vassilev VP (eds) The freshwater fishes of Europe. Aula Verlag, Wiesbaden, pp 367–394
Jenneckens I, Meyer JN, Debus L, Pitra C, Ludwig A (2001) Evidence of mitochondrial DNA clones of Siberian sturgeon, Acipenser baerii, within Russian sturgeon, Acipenser gueldenstaedtii, caught in the River Volga. Ecol Lett 3:503–508
Loreille O, Orlando L, Patou-Mathis M, Philippe M, Taberlet P, Hänni C (2001) Ancient DNA analysis reveals divergence of the cave bear, Ursus spelaeus, and brown bear, Ursus arctos, lineages. Curr Biol 11:200–203
Ludwig A (2006) A sturgeon view on conservation genetics. Eur J Wildl Res 52:3–8
Ludwig A, Kirschbaum F (1998) Comparison of mitochondrial DNA sequences between the European and the Adriatic sturgeon. J Fish Biol 52:1289–1291
Ludwig A, May B, Debus L, Jenneckens I (2000) Heteroplasmy in the mtDNA control region of sturgeon (Acipenser, Huso and Scaphirhynchus). Genetics 156:1933–1947
Nylander JA, Ronquist F, Huelsenbeck JP, Nieves-Aldrey JL (2004) Bayesian phylogenetic analysis of combined data. Syst Biol 53:47–67
Peng Z, Ludwig A, Wang D, Diogo R, Wei Q, He S (2006) Age and biogeography of major clades in sturgeons and paddlefishes (Pisces: Acipenseriformes). Mol Phylogenet Evol 42:854–862
Rambaut A, Drummond A (2003) http://evolve.zoo.ox.ac.uk/software.html
Rochard E, Castelnaud G, Lepage M (1990) Sturgeon (Pisces: Acipenseridae); threats and prospects. J Fish Biol 37:123–132
Ronquist F, Huelsenbeck JP (2003) MrBayes 3: Bayesian phylogenetic inference under mixed models. Bioinformatics 19:1572–1574
Rosenthal H (2003) World sturgeon conservation society E.V. (WSCS)—An international forum for scientific discussion on and concerted actions for the effective conservation and management of the highly endangered sturgeon species. J Appl Ichthyol 19:343–344
Swofford DL (2002) PAUP*. Phylogenetic Analysis using Parsimony (*and other methods). Version 4.0b10. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, Massachusetts
Tabardel M (1994) Le point sur la situation de l’esturgeon (Acipenser sturio L.) en Méditerranée occidentale et possibilités de réintroduction dans le Rhône. Dissertation, E.N.S.A. Rennes
Télétchéa F, Bernillon J, Duffraisse M, Laudet V, Hänni C (2008) Molecular identification of vertebrate species by oligonucleotide microarray in food and forensic samples. J Applied Ecol. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2664.2007.01415.x
Williot P, Rochard E, Castelnaud G, Rouault T., Brun R, Lepage M, Elie P (1997) Biological characteristics of European Atlantic sturgeon, Acipenser sturio, as the basis for a restoration program in France. Environ Biol Fish 48:359–372
Yang DY, Eng B, Waye JS, Dudar JC, Saunders SR (1998) Technical note: improved DNA extraction from ancient bones using silica-based spin columns. Am J Phy Anthropol 105:539–543
Acknowledgements
We thank P. Arcelin, Director of the archaeological excavations of the Jardin d’Hiver, Arles, for his communication of all stratigraphical and archaeological data. This study was funded by the French “Ministère de l’Ecologie et du Développement Durable”, the “Groupement d’Intérêt Scientifique sur les Amphihalins”, the “Conseil Supérieur de la Pêche”, the “Agence de l’Eau Rhône-Méditerranée et Corse”, the members of the “Migrateurs Rhône Méditerranée” association, the “Conseil Régional PACA”, the “Conseil Général des Bouches du Rhône”, the “Nature et Découvertes” foundation and the “Compagnie Nationale du Rhône”. Thanks to the “Migrateurs Rhône Méditerranée” association who initiates the study for sturgeon restoration in the Rhône River and allows by the way this study to start. Thanks to the CEMAGREF in Bordeaux who provides us with incidentally dead specimen of A. sturio and also to S. and G. Giovannini (Azienda Agricola, VIP, Brescia, Italy) who gave us two specimens of A. naccarii for morphological studies. We are grateful to all the people of the team Palaeogenetic and Molecular Evolution for helpful discussions. We wish to acknowledge Dr A. Locker for English corrections. We finally thank the CNRS, Université Lyon 1, ENS de Lyon, MNRT and Foundation ARC for financial supports. This is an ISEM 2008-017 publication.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Pagès, M., Desse-Berset, N., Tougard, C. et al. Historical presence of the sturgeon Acipenser sturio in the Rhône basin determined by the analysis of ancient DNA cytochrome b sequences. Conserv Genet 10, 217–224 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-008-9549-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-008-9549-6