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영어

The endemic species of sika deer in Northeast Asia is endangered animals in South Korea. In the 1970s, some subspecies (C.n.taiouanus and C.n.yesoensis) were introduced from other countries for restoration, and were not the endemic species (C.n.hortulorum) of Northeast Asia. However, there has not been a sufficient study about endemic and reintroduced sika deer. The purpose of this study was to identify the genetic diversity and relationship of South Korean sika deer compared to those in other countries at Northeast Asia. Total 153 DNA samples (69 South Korean, 38 Chinese and 29 North Korean samples of captive bred, and 17 Russian of wild) were used in the analysis. The number of alleles per locus varied from 2~14 with a mean of 6. The expected heterozygosity and observed heterozygosity values were 0.3863 and 0.2740, respectively. The mean polymorphism information content value was 0.3528, ranging from 0.026~0.826. The genetic distance analysis showed genetic difference between South Korean and other populations, and Russian and North Korean populations were genetically similar. The maximum value of ΔK was observed when K was set to 2. When K=2, the genetic structure analysis revealed hybridization among four populations. Based on the information from structure results, we distinguished individuals with dominant genetic composition of a particular subspecies (>0.90), and the result showed relatively ‘pure’ individuals in South Korean population formed a distinct cluster that contradict other countries. As a result, all the sika deer populations in the four countries were genetically vulnerable. In addition, it is confirmed that relatively ‘pure’ individuals in South Korea were showed genetically different characteristics compared to other countries. However, the rate of hybridization was high in all populations of four countries, and it was also difficult to grasp the hybridization with other deer subspecies or other species. Moreover, STRUCTURE analysis results depending on the number and type of markers used for analysis. Therefore, additional samples and markers need to be acquired and analyzed.