Mitochondrial Genetic Diversity of Eurasian Otter (<i>Lutra lutra</i>) from European Part of Russia and Transcaucasian Countries

In this study we examined mitochondrial DNA diversity of Eurasian otter from European part of Russia and Transcaucasian countries and compared it with other European populations. We used a fragment of mtDNA control region (255 bp) and also included previously detected haplotypes from NCBI. Six haplotypes were found in 75 samples from European part of Russia and Transcaucasian countries. Lut1 was the most common haplotype (62.1% of samples), Lut4 was detected in 17.6% of samples, other 4 haplotypes were newly detected. Haplotype diversity for European part of Russia and Transcaucasian countries were h = 0.56 ± 0.054, nucleotide diversity were π = 0.0016 ± 0.002. When we elongated the fragment of mtDNA (820 bp), haplotype (0.85 ± 0.03) and nucleotide diversity (π = 0.002 ± 0.001) were increased and 14 haplotypes were found. Geographic distribution of haplotypes depends neither on region, nor on river system. Central haplotype was detected throughout European part of Russia and Transcaucasian countries, as well as minor haplotypes, observed in lesser number of regions. Therefore, genetic diversity of Eurasian otters from European part of Russia and Transcaucasian countries is higher than in the rest of Europe. Besides, the population structure repeats European pattern with several regional features.