Determination of genetic variation in Anatolian mountain frogs

Anatolian mountain frogs (Rana macrocnemis, Rana camerani, Rana holtzi and Rana tavasensis) are distributed in some regions of the Caucasus, Iran, Iraq and Anatolia. The studies that indicate the taxonomic status of species in the literature are mostly based on morphological characteristics and there is no population genetic study of this group. In this study, we collected 132 specimens from 31 different populations of Anatolia and phylogenetic and population genetic analyzes were performed based on base sequences of mtDNA (cyt b and COI) and nDNA (RAG1 and POMC) and 6 different microsatellite locus. The high bootstrap and posterior probability values of the Maximum parsimony, Bayesian inferences and Maximum likelihood analyzes of both mtDNA gene regions (for cyt b: 99/1.0/72; MP / BI / MB, for COI: 100/1.0/100; MP / BI / MB) shows that the while R. tavasensis species separated from other Anatolian mountain also, no genetic difference was obtained among other Anatolian mountain frogs R. holtzi, R. camerani and R. macrocnemis species. No distinct genetic structuring has been identified among the members of this group in terms of the nDNA genes examined. As a result of the population genetic analysis, a similar genetic structure was observed among Anatolian mountain frogs in terms of microsatellite DNA locus examined. In the light of the basic information we have obtained, including R. tavasensis species; in some of our groups, effective population size was not sufficient and significant bottlenecks were identified in some locus. As a result of genetic distance analysis, no significant correlation between geographical structure and genetic structure was found. As a result, Anatolian mountain frogs are divided into two species in terms of mtDNA. In terms of nDNA, it has not shown a genetic structuring.