Article (Scientific journals)
Pan-African Genetic Structure in the African Buffalo (Syncerus caffer): Investigating Intraspecific Divergence
Smitz, Nathalie; Berthouly, C.; Cornélis, D. et al.
2013In PLoS ONE, 8 (2)
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Keywords :
DNA sequence; Syncerus caffer; Africa; Animals; Bayes Theorem; Buffaloes; DNA, Mitochondrial; Female; Genetic Variation; Genetics, Population; Geography; Haplotypes; Models, Biological; Nucleic Acid Conformation; Phylogeny; Probability; Species Specificity
Abstract :
[en] The African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) exhibits extreme morphological variability, which has led to controversies about the validity and taxonomic status of the various recognized subspecies. The present study aims to clarify these by inferring the pan-African spatial distribution of genetic diversity, using a comprehensive set of mitochondrial D-loop sequences from across the entire range of the species. All analyses converged on the existence of two distinct lineages, corresponding to a group encompassing West and Central African populations and a group encompassing East and Southern African populations. The former is currently assigned to two to three subspecies (S. c. nanus, S. c. brachyceros, S. c. aequinoctialis) and the latter to a separate subspecies (S. c. caffer). Forty-two per cent of the total amount of genetic diversity is explained by the between-lineage component, with one to seventeen female migrants per generation inferred as consistent with the isolation-with-migration model. The two lineages diverged between 145 000 to 449 000 years ago, with strong indications for a population expansion in both lineages, as revealed by coalescent-based analyses, summary statistics and a star-like topology of the haplotype network for the S. c. caffer lineage. A Bayesian analysis identified the most probable historical migration routes, with the Cape buffalo undertaking successive colonization events from Eastern toward Southern Africa. Furthermore, our analyses indicate that, in the West-Central African lineage, the forest ecophenotype may be a derived form of the savanna ecophenotype and not vice versa, as has previously been proposed. The African buffalo most likely expanded and diverged in the late to middle Pleistocene from an ancestral population located around the current-day Central African Republic, adapting morphologically to colonize new habitats, hence developing the variety of ecophenotypes observed today. © 2013 Smitz et al.
Disciplines :
Zoology
Author, co-author :
Smitz, Nathalie ;  Université de Liège - ULiège > Département des sciences de la vie > Génétique et physiologie des microalgues
Berthouly, C.;  Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Developpement (CIRAD), Campus International de Baillarguet, Montferrier-le-Lez, France
Cornélis, D.;  Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Developpement (CIRAD), Campus International de Baillarguet, Montferrier-le-Lez, France
Heller, R.;  Department of Biology- Bioinformatics, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
van Hooft, P.;  Resource Ecology Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, Netherlands
Chardonnet, P.;  International Foundation for the Conservation of Wildlife (IGF), Paris, France
Caron, A.;  Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Developpement (CIRAD), Campus International de Baillarguet, Montferrier-le-Lez, France, Department Environment and Societies, Centre de Cooperation Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Developpement (CIRAD), University of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe, Department of Zoology and Entomology- Mammal Research Institute, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
Prins, H.;  Tropical Nature Conservation and Vertebrate Ecology Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, Netherlands
van Vuuren, B. J.;  Department of Zoology- Centre for Invasion Biology, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa
de Iongh, H.;  Institute of Environmental Sciences, Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands
Michaux, Johan  ;  Université de Liège - ULiège > Département des sciences de la vie > Génétique et physiologie des microalgues
Title :
Pan-African Genetic Structure in the African Buffalo (Syncerus caffer): Investigating Intraspecific Divergence
Publication date :
2013
Journal title :
PLoS ONE
eISSN :
1932-6203
Publisher :
Public Library of Science, United States - California
Volume :
8
Issue :
2
Peer reviewed :
Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi
Available on ORBi :
since 19 November 2014

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