Phylogeny of the Genus Eleginus (Gadidae) according to the Analysis of the Variability of Microsatellite Locus and mtDNA COI Fragment

Abstract: Genetic methods based on the study of the variability of mitochondrial (COI) and nuclear (microsatellites) DNA were used to study the processes of morphogenesis in the genus Eleginus. The revealed level of genetic difference characterizes the Pacific saffron cod (Eleginus gracilis) and navaga (Eleginus nawaga) as independent species that diverged in a relatively recent period at the boundary of the Pliocene and Pleistocene. The White Sea populations of navaga by microsatellite markers differed from the Navaga inhabiting the basins of the Kara and the Barents seas. At the same time, it is assumed that the Kara-Barents Sea region could have acted as a “glacial refugium,” which ensured the postglacial settlement of navaga, including in the “watered” White Sea depression. Phylogenetic analysis based on diversity of COI haplotypes reveals demand of possible reorganization in the order Gadiformes, including Eleginus in an independent subfamily—sister in relation to the subfamilies Gadinae, Lotinae, and Merlucciinae. The prospects of improving genetic methodological approaches in the framework of the development of research on Saffron cod are noted.