ISSN 1022!7954, Russian Journal of Genetics, 2013, Vol. 49, No. 6, pp. 623–637. © Pleiades Publishing, Inc., 2013. Original Russian Text © S.V. Shedko, I.L. Miroshnichenko, G.A. Nemkova, 2013, published in Genetika, 2013, Vol. 49, No. 6, pp. 718–734. ANIMAL GENETICS Phylogeny of Salmonids (Salmoniformes: Salmonidae) and its Molecular Dating: Analysis of mtDNA Data S. V. Shedko, I. L. Miroshnichenko, and G. A. Nemkova Institute of Biology and Soil Science, Far Eastern Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladivostok, 690022 Russia e!mail:
[email protected] Received August 7, 2012; in final form November 6, 2012 Abstract—Phylogenetic relationships among 41 species of salmonid fish and some aspects of their diversifi! cation!time history were studied using the GenBank and original mtDNA data. The position of the root of the Salmonidae phylogenetic tree was uncertain. Among the possible variants, the most reasonable seems to be that in which thymallins are grouped into the same clade as coregonins and the lineage of salmonins occu! pied a basal position relative to this clade. The genera of Salmoninae formed two distinct clades, i.e., (Brach! ymystax, Hucho) and (Salmo, Parahucho, (Salvelinus, (Parasalmo, Oncorhynchus)). Furthermore, the gen! era Parasalmo and Oncorhynchus were reciprocally monophyletic. The congruence of Salmonidae phyloge! netic trees obtained using different types of phylogenetic markers is discussed. According to Bayesian dating, ancestral lineages of salmonids and their sister esocoids diverged about 106 million years ago. Sometime after, probably 100–70 million years ago, the salmonid!specific whole genome duplication took place. The diver! gence of salmonid lineages on the genus level occurred much later, within the time interval of 42–20 million years ago.