Study On Genetic Diversity And Phylogenetic Status Of The Pteromys Volans In Northern Zhangguangcai Mountains

Pteromys volans belongs to Mammalia,Rodentia,Sciuridae,Pteromys,and is an arboreal nocturnal gliding species.In China,they were listed as“three resources”and play an important ecological role in forest seed dispersal and ecosystem balance.Due to global climate change and human activities such as road construction and forest harvesting,the habitat fragmentation was threatened to some extent.The study of species diversity and taxonomic status is the premise of scientific protection of wild population.However,there is still a lack of genetic research on Pteromys volans in China,and the classification of subspecies of Pteromys volans is not consistent at home and abroad,which restricts the sustainable management and scientific conservation of Pteromys volans.In view of this,this study collected a total of 33 Pteromys volans hair samples from October to December in 2018 and 2020,using mitochondrial Cytb and D-loop regions as molecular markers to analyze the genetic diversity of flying Squirrels population in the northern Zhangguangcai mountains,and to analyze the genetic relationship of Pteromys volans in the Sciurinae and the phylogenetic status of the global subspecies of Pteromys volans.The main results of our study were:1.Based Cytb complete sequences(1140 bp),a total of 34 variant sites were detected,and a total of 14 haplotypes were defined.The average haplotype diversity index(H_d)was0.909,the average nucleotide diversity index(P_i)was 0.616%.Based complete D-loop sequences(1066 bp),72 variant sites were detected,and a total of 15 haplotypes were defined.The H_dand P_iwere 0.945 and 1.698%.Using the genetic diversity of Pteromys volans studied by two molecular markers,it was found that the genetic diversity of Pteromys volans in the northern of Zhangguangcai mountains was rich.2.Population expansion events of the Pteromys volans were estimated based on the mismatch distribution map constructed and the neutrality test by mt DNA.It was found that the mismatch distribution results of the two sequences in Cytb and D-loop region showed an obvious multimodal curve state.Based on the neutral test,the values of Tajima's D and Fu's Fs did not deviate significantly from zero(P>0.05).It shows that the Pteromys volans population has experienced a relatively complex population history,but no historical expansion events have occurred.3.BI tree of Sciurinae based on Cytb.the results were divided into two major branches,Sciurini and Pteromyini.The Pteromyini is divided into three subclades:A,B,and C.The Pteromys volans in this study belongs to the B subclade of the Pteromyini.The Pteromys is composed of Siberian flying squirrel and Japanese flying squirrel.Pteromys first forms a sister branch with Eupetaurus,then it forms a sub-clade together with the Belomys and Biswamoyopterus.Subclade A includes Eoglaucomys,Glaucomys,Hylopetes and Petinomys,forming sister branches with B.The Petaurista independently form subclade C.Similar to previous studies,Pteromys volans are not a separate lineage in the Pteromyini.4.The BI tree,ML tree and Drawing the haplotype network constructed based on Cytb have the same topological structure.Three independent clades with high support rate are obtained:Far East,Northern Eurasia and Hokkaido.The genetic distance between the three branches ranged from 0.013 to 0.028,and the genetic differentiation was significant(P<0.01),there is obvious geographical distribution structure.The results of the phylogenetic tree and haplotype network based on D-loop are consistent and support the results of Cytb.The results of this study support the results of morphologically dividing the global Pteromys volans into four subspecies:P.v.volans,P.v.athene,P.v.buechneri,and P.v.orii.In this study,the Pteromys volans in northern Zhangguangcai Mountains and Greater Khingan Mountains belongs to P.v.buechneri subspecies.