Genetic Differentiation among the Mitochondrial ND2 Gene and $tRNA^{Trp}$ Gene Sequences of Genus Rana (Anura) in Korea

• Published in: Korean journal of biological sciences Vol. 4; no. 1; pp. 31 - 37
• Main Authors: Lee, Hyuk, Yang, Suh-Yung, Lee, Hei-Yung
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Korean
• Published: 2000
• Subjects: Mt ND2 gene; Amphibia; Genetic differentiation; Genus Rana; Mt $tRNA^{Trp}$ gene
• ISSN: 1226-5071

The genetic variations among six species of Rana from Korea (R. nigro-maculata, R. piancyi, R. dybowskii, R. sp, R. rugosa type A, B and R. amurensis) were investigated using 499 bases of mitochondrial DNA sequences for ND2 (NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2) gene and $tRNA^{Trp}$ gene. Partial sequences of ND2 gene (427 bp) and full sequences of $tRNA^{Trp}$ gene (73 bp) were identified. The level of sequence divergences ranged from 0.2 to 5.2% within species and 4.9-28.0% among 6 species of the genus Rana. The $tRNA^{Trp}$ gene of the genus Rana was composed of 77 nucleotides which showed a two dimensional "cloverleaf" structure. The secondary structure of $tRNA^{Trp}$ was not found compensatory changes which could potentially confound phylogenetic inference. In the neighborjoining tree, brown frogs were clustered first with the level of sequence divergence of 13.20% between R. amurensis and R. dybowskii, and 9% between R. dybowskii and R. sp. supported by 99% bootstrap iterations, respectively. R. nigromaculata and R. plancyi were clustered into another group with 5.1% divergence supported by 100% bootstrap iteration. R. rugosa A 8nd B types were grouped by 4.9% divergence and clustered into the last group with other two groups with 100% bootstrap iterations.