DNA Identification of Parasitic Copepods <i>Salmincola</i> (Copepoda, Siphonostomatoida, Lernaeopodidae): Variability and Rate of Evolution of the Mitochondrial Cytochrome c Oxidase Subunit I Gene

The barcode fragment of the COI gene was sequenced in 91 specimens of five species of parasitic Salmincola copepods, sampled from salmonids mainly from the Russian Far East: S. californiensis (mykiss and masu salmon) and S. edwardsii (various species of chars, sockeye salmon from Lake Kronotskoe), S. carpionis (various species of chars), S. markewitschi (whitespotted char), S. stellata (Sakhalin taimen). A total of 41 haplotypes were found with a maximum level of differences of 0.183 nucleotide substitutions per position. The distance between species varied from 0.139 ± 0.014 in the S. markewitschi–S. carpionis pair to 0.179 ± 0.015 in the S. stellata–S. californiensis pair. The intraspecific nucleotide diversity of the COI gene fragment is much lower: for S. californiensis and S. edwardsii, inhabiting the gill cavity and fins of the host – 0.013 ± 0.003 and 0.015 ± 0.003, and for S. stellata, S. markewitschi, and S. carpionis, localized in the buccal cavity of the hosts – 0.002 ± 0.001, 0.004 ± 0.001, and 0.005 ± 0.001, respectively. A comparison of samples of three Salmincola copepod species from different regions of the Russian Far East revealed a significant (Fst = 0.28–0.42, P \( \ll \) 0.001) genetic subdivision. Three subclades of edwardsii-like copepods – S. edwardsii from the Russian Far East, S. edwardsii from the American brook char of eastern North America, and S. siscowet from the lake char of Michigan (COI sequences of copepods from the last two groups are taken from genetic databases) – differed from each other by an average of 9.3–10.9% nucleotide positions, which means the need for a taxonomic revision of S. edwardsii. According to the molecular dating carried out, the divergence of Salmincola lineages started in the Miocene and ended in the early Pliocene. The phylogenetic substitution rate was 0.0228 (95% interval: 0.0132–0.033) nucleotide substitutions/position/million years/lineage. The rate of nucleotide substitutions at the population level is 3.7 times higher – 0.0849 (0.0212–0.170). The high level of variability of the COI gene fragment makes this marker a useful tool both for developing the taxonomy and phylogeny of Salmincola and Lernaeopodidae copepods at the species and genus levels, and for analyzing the differentiation of their populations.