Phylogeography of freshwater fish Puntius sophore in India

Abstract

Phylogeography and evolutionary history of the freshwater species are poorly known. We document the phylogeography of widely distributed Puntius sophore using cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) gene of 650 bp. In the present study, we used 61 individual sequences from known geographic locations across India whereas data are lacking from other parts of its distribution range. Total 20 haplotypes with the intra-species sequence divergence ranging from 0.004 to 0.025 were observed and they were split into two major clades (North and Northeastern to Central India). Two distant geographic (North and Northeastern to Central India) regions shared haplotype suggesting ancient river connectivity or introduction of species from Northeast and Central India. Overall nucleotide and haplotype diversities were 0.00971 and 0.915. The Tajima’s D and Fu’s Fs values were found negative but non-significant thus rejecting the population expansion model followed by the multimodal mode of mismatch distribution. Bayesian skyline plots from both the clade showed steady population history over time; and start of decline in recent years in the clade B (∼1000–1500 years). The present finding is in support to the ‘Satpura hypothesis’ proposed to explain species movement patterns from Southeast Asian countries to Indian subcontinent, seconded by P. sophore showing high genetic diversity within Northern India clade (high genetic splits) because of presence of high river network in comparison to other parts of the country.

Keywords:

• Intra-species variation
• Satpura hypothesis
• genetic diversity
• Bayesian skyline plots

Acknowledgements

The authors extend their heartfelt thanks to the Dean, Faculty of Life Sciences and Head, Department of Zoology and Environmental Sciences, Gurukula Kangri University, Haridwar for their consistent support. The authors also extend thanks to Director, Dean and Research Coordinator, Wildlife Institute of India, for encouraging this work. We also thanks IUCN for providing species distribution map and ‘MapsofIndia’ for providing map of major rivers of India. We would also like to express our gratitude to our labmates, who shared their personal experiences with us. The assistance rendered from technical staff from both the laboratories of the University and the Institute are greatly acknowledged.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.