Distribution, Composition and Relationships of Phylogenetic Groups of Arctic Charr Salvelinus alpinus (L.) (Salmoniformes, Salmonidae) in the European part of Russia and in Siberia as Revealed by the Analysis of Nucleotide Sequences of Mitochondrial DNA

In order to extend the geography of genetic studies at the broad circumpolar range of Arctic charr we analyzed sequence variation of mtDNA control region (537–547 b.p.) in 25 populations of the European part of Russia and Siberia. In most of them, haplotypes of the Atlantic or of the Siberia phylogenetic groups were found. The results of phylogenetic analysis indicate low segregation between these groups, for that reason they are considered as two subgroups of a single Eurasian group; the composition and ranges of these subgroups are specified. Charr with haplotypes of the Atlantic subgroup were found in Karelia, at Kola Peninsula, Polar Urals, Novaya Zemlya archipelago, Taimyr; charr with haplotypes of the Atlantic subgroup, in Transbaikalia, in mountainous upper reaches of the Yana and the Indigirka basins and in the lower reaches of the Anabar. Both subgroups reveal weak geographical structuring at large geographic scale. Besides, in the lower Anabar basin Arctic charr bearing a haplotype of the Bering group, which introgressed in their genome from the northern form of Dolly Varden were recorded. Our results evidence a wide-scale post-Pleistocene dispersal of the anadromous form of the Atlantic subgroup charr throughout the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans drainage basins; common origin and close phylogenetic relationships of Arctic charr of the Siberian subgroup from different regions of Siberia and their possible migrations between these regions during the Pleistocene glacial maxima. They also confirm the participation of charr from Beringia in the colonization of Siberian Arctic coasts and indicate that they dispersed further to the west than previously known.