Genetic diversity, phylogeography and parasitism among European populations of chub (Leuciscus cephalus Linnaeus, 1758)
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| Year of publication | 2008 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Description | A common European cyprinid fish, chub (Leuciscus cephalus), was chosen as an experimental model for study potential relationships between MHC (major histocompatibility complex) polymorphism using DAB genes, phylogeography and parasitism. The MHC genes are the most polymorphic loci in vertebrates, whereas the host-pathogen coevolution and parasite-driven balancing selection have an extensive contribution to the high level of allelic diversity in MHC genes. The objectives of this work were to investigated: a) the parasite communities of chub from selected localities including a wide range of chub distribution, b) the variability of DAB genes, c) genetic diversity within- and among- chub populations using microsatellites and cytochrome b gene for phylogeography, d) to analyse the associations between parasites and MHC allelic diversity and e) to test whether selectively neutral processes contribute to MHC structure. Molecular techniques as SSCP, cloning and sequencing were used. The results suggest the relationship between MHC allelic diversity and parasite occurrence, i.e. the more parasitized populations of chub reached the high level of MHC variability, and an influence of host phylogeny on composition of parasite communities. This study was funded by the Grant Agency of the CR, Project No. 524/07/0188 and Research Project of the Masaryk University Brno MSM0021622416. |
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