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Genetic Analysis of Turkish lynx (Lynx lynx) Based on Mitochondrial DNA Sequences

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Abstract

Genetic variability and phylogenetic relationships of the Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) have been reported by various researchers from species’ range. As genetic data of Turkish lynx comes from a single genetic study that only contains limited number of lynx samples from the Anatolian part of Turkey, there is still a lack of genetic information for the Eurasian lynx population distributed in Turkey. In this study, mitochondrial Cyt b (1140 bp) and COI (630 bp) sequences were obtained from eight Anatolian samples of the Eurasian lynx. The Anatolian lynx sequences were compared to those of conspecific populations published in GenBank. We found two COI (630 bp) and four Cyt b (1140 bp) haplotypes among the eight Anatolian lynx sequences. Despite the limited number of the Anatolian lynx sequences, Bayesian, Maximum Likelihood, Neighbor-Joining and Network analyses revealed that there was a significant genetic differentiation in the Eurasian lynx, in that at least there were two main mitochondrial lineages within the sampling area. Also, the present study suggested that the Anatolian lynx might have a relatively high genetic variability despite the scarce samples.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This study was supported by the Scientific Research Fund at Erciyes University (Project Nr: FHD-2016-6554). We would like to thank to the Wildlife Conservation, Rescue, Rehabilitation, Application and Research Center, Kafkas University, and Dr. Sami Şimşek for his assistance in providing the samples, and Donna Sue Özcan for English editing.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Faculty of Agriculture, Erciyes University, Kayseri, Turkey

    O. İbİş

  2. Genome and Stem Cell Center (GENKOK), Erciyes University, Kayseri, Turkey

    O. İbİş, S. Özcan & C. Tez

  3. Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Erciyes University, Kayseri, Turkey

    S. Özcan & C. Tez

  4. Program of Hunting and Wildlife, Department of Forestation, Akkuş Vocational School, Ordu University, Akkuş, Ordu, Turkey

    C. Kırmanoğlu

  5. Department of Wildlife Ecology and Management, Faculty of Forestry, Düzce University, Düzce, Turkey

    A. Keten

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  1. O. İbİş
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İbİş, O., Özcan, S., Kırmanoğlu, C. et al. Genetic Analysis of Turkish lynx (Lynx lynx) Based on Mitochondrial DNA Sequences. Russ J Genet 55, 1426–1437 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1022795419110061

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