RESUMO
The current distribution of populations in Europe is marked by the effects of glaciations that occurred during the Pleistocene. Temperate species were isolated in glacial refugia that were the sources of postglacial recolonization. The traditional glacial refuge areas were the Iberian, the Italian and the Balkan peninsulas. Here we revisit the evolutionary history of chamois (Rupicapra genus) to evaluate other sites in continental Europe and Anatolia that have been suggested as potential refuges. We have obtained the complete mitochondrial sequence of seven chamois, including the subspecies parva, carpatica, caucasica, and asiatica whose mitochondrial genome had not been yet reported. These, together with the other fourteen sequences already in the GenBank, represent the different geographical populations of the Rupicapra genus. The phylogenetic analysis showed the three old clades, dating from the early Pleistocene, already reported: mtW in the Iberian Peninsula, mtC in the Appenines and the Massif of Chartreuse, and mtE comprising all the population from the Alps to the east. The genomes within each of the clades mtW and mtE, showed divergence times larger than 300 thousand years. From here, it can be argued that the present-day lineages across Europe are very old and their split dates back to the middle Pleistocene.
RESUMO
The taxonomy of chamois and the effects of historical and evolutionary events on its diversification are still under discussion given that different morphological and genetic features presented partially discordant views. One of the morphological features that differentiate the two currently considered species, Rupicapra pyrenaica (southern chamois) and R. rupicapra (northern chamois) is coat color pattern. The melanocortin-1 receptor gene (MC1R) is related with differences in coloration in different mammals and was analyzed here in a sample of 25 chamois covering the 10 subspecies recognized, three in R. pyrenaica, (parva, pyrenaica and ornata) and seven in R. rupicapra (cartusiana, rupicapra, tatrica, carpatica, balcanica, asiatica and caucasica). Comparison with other caprinae showed that the MC1R gene has evolved under strong purifying selection. Three well differentiated haplotypes were identified: one shared by the seven subspecies of R. rupicapra, other common to the two Iberian chamois, both of the species R. pyrenaica, and a third haplotype, basal in the phylogenetic tree, unique to the subspecies from the Apennines, R. pyrenaica ornata. This pattern of variation, with three conspicuous clades, concurs with previous findings on microsatellites and mtDNA and argues in favor of the old classifications that distinguished the species R. ornata.
