Genetic identification of Shoshone Spring and River Springs pupfishes using SNP and microsatellite markers

Authors: Roxanne Bautista, Rocio Gonzalez, Steve Parmenter, Yongjiu Chen, Frank Pezold

Year: 2010 (xlii)

Abstract

The identities of pupfish (Cyprinodon spp) populations in Shoshone Spring and River Springs have been a management concern. Shoshone Spring hosts a population of pupfish purported to be the endemic (C. nevadensis shoshone), while the nearby Amargosa River may host C. n. amargosae. However, a conclusive difference between the two populations has not been established. Separately, the introduced pupfish population presently found in River Springs is hypothesized to derive from both Salt Creek pupfish (C. salinus salinus) and Amargosa pupfish introduced in 1940. Methods for population identification and introgression detection need to be established. This work presents genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and microsatellite markers to distinguish the Shoshone Spring from Amargosa River pupfish populations, and to evaluate the plausible hybridization of Amargosa River and Salt Creek pupfishes at River Springs. Preliminary results indicate that Shoshone pupfish is distinct from Amargosa pupfish. River Springs pupfish share high genetic affinity with Amargosa pupfish and significantly differ from Salt Creek pupfish.