Phylogenetic Relationships of Mitochondrial DNA Cytochrome b Gene in East Asian Ducks

Abstract

The ducks (Anas platyrhynchos domestica) were domesticated from Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos). While the ducks bred in Japan and European countries are supposed to originate from the ducks in China and Southeast Asian countries, respectively, the molecular phylogeny of these ducks has not been studied. We herein showed the phylogenetic relationship from the nucleotide sequences within the mitochondrial DNA cytochrome b gene of 18 breed ducks. In this phylogenetic relationship, Japanese and Chinese ducks were found to belong to the same clade distinct from the clade containing European and Southeast Asian ducks. This finding demonstrates the heretofore supposed fact that domesticated ducks in China and Southeast Asian countries have been distributed to Japan and European countries, respectively. In addition, this phylogenetic tree revealed that the genetic constitution of Southeast Asian ducks is distinctly different from that of Northeast Asian ducks.