Arvicola Amphibius) and Phylogenetics of the Rodent Subfamily Arvicolinae
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Kent Academic Repository Full text document (pdf) Citation for published version Kirkland, Corey (2021) Genetic diversity of British water voles (Arvicola amphibius) and phylogenetics of the rodent subfamily Arvicolinae. Master of Research (MRes) thesis, University of Kent,. DOI Link to record in KAR https://kar.kent.ac.uk/88342/ Document Version UNSPECIFIED Copyright & reuse Content in the Kent Academic Repository is made available for research purposes. Unless otherwise stated all content is protected by copyright and in the absence of an open licence (eg Creative Commons), permissions for further reuse of content should be sought from the publisher, author or other copyright holder. Versions of research The version in the Kent Academic Repository may differ from the final published version. Users are advised to check http://kar.kent.ac.uk for the status of the paper. Users should always cite the published version of record. Enquiries For any further enquiries regarding the licence status of this document, please contact: [email protected] If you believe this document infringes copyright then please contact the KAR admin team with the take-down information provided at http://kar.kent.ac.uk/contact.html Genetic diversity of British water voles (Arvicola amphibius) and phylogenetics of the rodent subfamily Arvicolinae. A thesis to the University of Kent for the degree of: MSc by Research in Genetics 2020 Corey Kirkland School of Biosciences 1 Declaration: No part of this thesis has been submitted in support of an application for any degree or other qualification of the University of Kent, or any other University or Institutions of learning. 2 Acknowledgements: I would firstly like to say a huge thanks to my supervisor, Dr Marta Farré-Belmonte, for accepting me onto this MSc-R project and for her support throughout this project. She has provided me with technical support both in the laboratory and in bioinformatics and provided me with an amazing opportunity to develop as a research scientist. These skills will be incredibly useful as I hope to continue my career in research. It has been a pleasure to be a part of her research group at the University of Kent. I would also like to acknowledge all the members of the group – Cristina, Frances, and visiting researcher Lucía – who have been wonderfully supportive and who I have really enjoyed working alongside, as well as members of the ERGO group. Also, a big thanks to Wildwood Trust and Hazel who have allowed me to sample water voles at their wildlife park. Plus, Kent Mammal Group for providing a research grant for consumables. Lastly, I would like to thank Matthew, my friends and my family for their love and support. 3 Contents: Declaration: ................................................................................................................................... 2 Acknowledgements: ...................................................................................................................... 3 List of Figures: ................................................................................................................................ 7 List of Tables: ................................................................................................................................. 9 Abbreviations: ............................................................................................................................. 10 Abstract: ...................................................................................................................................... 11 1. Introduction: ........................................................................................................................ 12 1.1. Population Genetics of British Water Voles: ............................................................... 12 The European Water Vole: .................................................................................................. 13 Population Genetics of British Water Voles: ....................................................................... 14 Genetic Sampling: ................................................................................................................ 16 1.2. Phylogenetics of Arvicolinae: ...................................................................................... 18 1.3. Hypothesis: .................................................................................................................. 21 1.4. Research Aims: ............................................................................................................ 21 2. Materials and Methods: ...................................................................................................... 22 2.1. Optimisation of DNA Extraction: ................................................................................. 22 Sample Collection: ............................................................................................................... 22 DNA Extraction of Tissue Samples: ...................................................................................... 22 DNA Extraction of Hair Samples: ......................................................................................... 24 DNA Extraction of Faecal Samples: ...................................................................................... 24 DNA Extraction of Additional Sample Types: ...................................................................... 25 2.2. Amplification and Sequencing of Mitochondrial Control Region: ............................... 25 Amplification of Marker: ..................................................................................................... 25 Sequencing: ......................................................................................................................... 25 2.3. Population Genetics of the Water Vole: ...................................................................... 26 Multiple Sequence Alignments (MSA): ................................................................................ 26 Haplotype Networks: ........................................................................................................... 26 4 Phylogenetic Tree Construction: ......................................................................................... 26 Population Genetics Calculations: ...................................................................................... 26 Population Structure: .......................................................................................................... 27 2.4. Phylogenetics of Arvicolinae: ........................................................................................... 27 Mitochondrial and Nuclear Markers: .................................................................................. 27 Phylogenetic Tree Construction: ......................................................................................... 27 3. Results: ................................................................................................................................ 28 3.1. Optimisation of DNA Extraction: ................................................................................. 28 DNA Extraction of Tissue Samples: ..................................................................................... 28 DNA Extraction of Hair Samples: ......................................................................................... 30 DNA Extraction of Faecal Samples: ..................................................................................... 31 DNA Extraction of Additional Sample Types: ...................................................................... 33 Comparison of Sample Types: ............................................................................................. 33 3.2. Amplification and Sequencing of the Mitochondrial Control Region: ........................ 34 3.3. Population Genetics of the Water Vole: ..................................................................... 35 Individuals from Wildwood Trust: ...................................................................................... 35 Comparison of Captive and Natural Populations: ............................................................... 36 3.4. Arvicolinae Phylogenetics: .......................................................................................... 42 Mitochondrial Genomes: .................................................................................................... 42 Mitochondrial Marker: ........................................................................................................ 44 Nuclear Markers:................................................................................................................. 45 Supermatrix Approach: ....................................................................................................... 47 4. Discussion: .......................................................................................................................... 49 4.1. DNA Extraction and Amplification: ............................................................................. 49 4.2. Population Genetics of British Water Voles:............................................................... 51 4.3. Phylogenetics of Arvicolinae: ...................................................................................... 53 Phylogenies of the Genera of Arvicolinae: .........................................................................