Phylogenetic relationships among Coregonus species inferred from the DNA sequence of the first internal transcribed spacer (ITS1) of ribosomal DNA
Phylogenetic analyses based on morphometrics, data on protein electrophoresis, and mitochondrial DNA have given conflicting phylogenetic hypotheses for the subfamily Coregoninae (Prosopium, Coregonus, and Stenodus). To resolve these conflicts, phylogenetic analysis of 13 taxa of Coregoninae was done using a nuclear gene, the first internal transcribed spacer (ITS1) of the ribosomal DNA (rDNA). ITS1 sequences of all North American ciscoes were identical. In agreement with analyses based on other molecular data, the genus Stenodus was included in Coregonus, and there was no support for the monophyly of the ciscoes. The analysis based on rDNA also placed C. peled as the sister species to C. lavaretus, but this may represent a case of hybridization and introgression. A length polymorphism involving a repeating unit of 65-67 base pairs was found in the ITS1. All ciscoes except C. peled had one copy of the repeat. Coregonus peled, C. lavaretus, and Eurasian and Beringian C. clupeaformis had two copies of the repeat, while the other North American C. clupeaformis had three copies, suggesting that C. clupeaformis of northwestern North America is a form of C. lavaretus.