GENETIC DIVERGENCE PATTERNS OF TWO SIBLING SPECIES (MYOTIS MYOTIS, MYOTIS BLYTHII) AND MYOTIS CAPPACINII (MAMMALIA: CHIROPTERA) IN CENTRAL ANATOLIA REGION

Tuba YAĞCI¹ , NURSEL AŞAN BAYDEMIR²

Myotis myotis (Borkhausen, 1797) and Myotis blythii (Tomes, 1857) are genetically close species of bats with very similar morphology and karyology. In this study, specific descriptive markers of 3 species (Myotis myotis, Myotis blythii, and M. cappacinii) belonging to the genus Myotis were determined by using ISSR technique for the first time. In total, 91 bands including 86 polymorphic bands were obtained from the 7 best-optimized primers out of the analyzed 16 primers. UPMGA cluster analysis showed 4 separate clusters. According to these results, the M. myotis and M. blythii were divided into two close groups, whereas a single individual belonging to M. myotis colony formed the third group. M. cappacinii was in a more distinct and remote group with respect to sibling species. Genetic diversity for all populations was calculated as 94.5%. ISSR-PCR method was shown to be a reliable and useful technique for detecting genotypic similarities/differences of Myotis species.

Keywords
Genetic Differentiation, ISSR, Chiroptera, Sibling, Myotis,