Rs. Burton, INFERRING THE GENETIC-STRUCTURE OF MARINE POPULATIONS - A CASE-STUDY COMPARING ALLOZYME AND DNA-SEQUENCE DATA, Reports - California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations, 35, 1994, pp. 52-60
The genetic structure of natural populations of marine organisms is fr
equently inferred from the distribution of alleles at gene loci. Until
recently, most investigations relied entirely on protein electrophore
tic techniques, with particular emphasis on polymorphic enzyme-coding
gene loci (allozyme loci). Over the past few years, increasing use has
been made of molecular techniques, including methods that allow the c
onstruction of gene genealogies. These later methods provide powerful
insight into the evolutionary history of genetic variation and, under
some conditions, provide valuable information concerning population st
ructure. This paper compares results of both allozyme and DNA sequence
studies for a set of populations of the intertidal copepod Tigriopus
californicus along the California coast. The comparisons show that: (1
) Allozyme frequencies distinguish almost all the study populations, w
hereas genealogies of the sampled DNA sequences do not. (2) Both nucle
ar and mitochondrial DNA sequences reveal strong population differenti
ation between central and southern California populations that is not
apparent in the allozyme frequencies. (3) Allozymes and DNA sequences
are not entirely concordant in the picture they present of population
relationships. (4) The most complete analyses of population structure
will require multiple genetic techniques.