earticle

영어

The Gold-spotted pond frog, Rana plancyi chosenica, designated as a vulnerable species by IUCN Red list. This species is a typical example facing local population threats and extinction due to human activities in South Korea. Strategic conservation plan for this endangered species should be urgently needed. In order to provide information for the conservation planning of this species, genetic diversity of gold-spotted pond frog has been investigated by molecular genetic approach using mitochondrial cytochorme b and control region gene sequences. We sequenced the mitochondrial DNA cytochrome bgene and control region of 77 individuals from 11 populations in South Korea, and one from Chongqing, China. A total of 15 cytochrome b gene haplotypes and 34 control region haplotypes were identified from Korean gold-spotted pond frogs. Mean sequence diversity among Korean gold-spotted pond frogs were 0.31% (0.0% - 0.8%) and 0.51% (0.0% - 1.0%), respectively. Most Korean populations have their own unique haplotypes at least one in both genes, and the Taean, Ansan and Cheongwon populations did not even share any haplotypes with other populations. There was a high sequence divergence between Korean and Chinese gold spotted pond frogs (1.3% for cyt b 2.9% for control region). Analysis of genetic distances and phylogenetic trees based on both cytochrome b and control region sequences indicate that the Korean gold-spotted pond frog constitute a genetically differentiated subspecies from Chinese gold-spotted pond frog.