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Human-mediated introgression of exotic chukar (Alectoris chukar, Galliformes) genes from East Asia into native Mediterranean partridges

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Abstract

Mediterranean red-legged (Alectoris rufa) and rock (Alectoris graeca) partridge populations are affected by genetic pollution. The chukar partridge (Alectoris chukar), a species only partly native to Europe, is the most frequently introgressive taxon detected in the genome of hybrid partridges. Both theoretical (evolutionary) and practical (resources management) matters spur to get insight into the geographic origin of the A. chukar hybridizing swarm. The phenotypic A. rufa populations colonizing the easternmost part of the distribution range of this species, the islands of Elba (Italy) and Corsica (France), were investigated. The analysis of both mitochondrial (mtDNA: Cytochrome-b gene plus Control Region: 2,250 characters) and nuclear (Short Tandem Repeats, STR; Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA, RAPD) genomes of 25 wild (Elba) and 20 captive (Corsica) partridges, disclosed spread introgression of chukar origin also in these populations. All mtDNA haplotypes of Elba and Corsica partridges along with those we obtained from other A. rufa (total, n = 111: Italy, Spain, France) and A. graeca (n = 6, Italy), were compared with the mtDNA haplotypes of chukars (n = 205) sampled in 20 countries. It was found that the A. chukar genes detected in red-legged (n = 43) and rock partridges (n = 4) of Spain, France and Italy as well as in either introduced (Italy) or native (Greece, Turkey) chukars (n = 35) were all from East Asia. Hence, a well-defined geographic origin of the exotic chukar genes polluting the genome of native Mediterranean A. rufa and A. graeca (inter-specific level) as well as A. chukar (intra-specific level), was demonstrated.

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Abbreviations

CR:

Control Region

Cyt-b :

Cytochrome-b gene

MtDNA:

Mitochondrial DNA

RAPD:

Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA

STR:

Short Tandem Repeats

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Acknowledgements

Authors are grateful to: F. Cappelli (Territorial Office for Biodiversity, Italian Forestry Service, Lucca), G. Luciani and M. Arrighi (Provincial Police, Livorno), R. Giombini (Italian Forestry Service, M. Marina) and their staff for the fieldwork on Elba Island; C. Pietri and R. Maupertuis (Fédération Départementale des Chasseurs de Haute-Corse, Bastia, France) for the A. rufa sampling in Corsica; J.J. Negro (Estacion Biológica de Doñana, Seville) and P. Prieto (Finca Lugar Nuevo, Andujar) for Spanish A. rufa samples; I. Andreoli and G. Petroni (Department of Biology, University of Pisa) for their valuable suggestions to set-up the snPCR. For the A. chukar samples we thank: P. Birtsas (Hunting Federation of Macedonia-Thrace, Greece), G. Arnellos and A. Sakoulis (Hunting Federation of Crete, Greece), P. Lemanis (Hunting Federation of Archipelago, Greece), C. Barboutis (Natural History Museum of Crete, Greece), E. Randi (INFS, Italy), I. Gursey (Turkey), Yerevan Zoo (Armenia), J. Saparmuradov (Institute of Desert, Flora and Fauna, Ashgabat, Turkmenistan), A.N. Ostaschenko (Institute for Biology and Pedology, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan), J.I. Chaudhry (Afghanistan), N. Awan (Pakistan), O.V. Shilo (Novosibirsk Zoo, Russia), E. Burdinva (Perm Zoo, Russia), Y.A. Makhrov (Krasnoyarskpark of Flora and Fauna “Roev Ruchei”, Russia), A. Yedgebayeva (Almaty Zoo, Kazakhstan), L. Da (Institute of Biophysics, Beijing, China), Beijing Zoo (China), M. Ming (Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Urumqi, China), N. Liu (School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, China), L. Gilbertson (Nevada Department of Wildlife, USA). We acknowledge S.I. Fokin (Biological Research Institute, St. Petersburg State University, Russia) for his help in contacting formerly USSR countries and L. Taglioli (Department of Biology, University of Pisa) for the statistical analysis. We are grateful to G. Grasseschi, C. Marchi, E. Mori and F.P. Frontini (Department of Biology, University of Pisa) for their qualified laboratory work. We thank the University of Washington Burke Museum (Seattle, USA) and the Natural History Museum of Crete (Heraklion, Greece) for the A. chukar tissues loan. This work was supported by grants of the Provincia di Livorno, INTERREG III Toscana—Corsica—Sardegna and the Cypriot Game Fund Service, Ministry of Interior, Nicosia, Cyprus.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Protistology-Zoology Unit, Via A. Volta 6, 56126, Pisa, Italy

    Filippo Barbanera, Monica Guerrini & Fernando Dini

  2. Institute of Pure and Applied Biology, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan

    Aleem A. Khan & Bakht Y. Khan

  3. Cypriot Game Fund Service, Ministry of Interior, 1453, Nicosia, Cyprus

    Panicos Panayides & Pantelis Hadjigerou

  4. Hunting Federation of Macedonia-Thrace, Ethnikis Antistaseos 173-175, 55134, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Christos Sokos

  5. Department of Zoology, National University of Mongolia, P.O. Box 537, 210646A, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

    Sundev Gombobaatar

  6. Department of Molecular Biology, Environment Conservation Center, Doulat boulvard, 94149, Bojnord, North Khorasan, Islamic Republic of Iran

    Sarah Samadi

  7. Department of Biology, Anthropology Unit, Via S. Maria 55, 56126, Pisa, Italy

    Sergio Tofanelli & Giorgio Paoli

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  1. Filippo Barbanera
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Correspondence to Filippo Barbanera.

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Barbanera, F., Guerrini, M., Khan, A.A. et al. Human-mediated introgression of exotic chukar (Alectoris chukar, Galliformes) genes from East Asia into native Mediterranean partridges. Biol Invasions 11, 333–348 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-008-9251-0

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