Genetic diversity in Japanese populations of the Eurasian Collared Dove

Background Eurasian Collared Dove (Streptopelia decaocto) is a species distributed in the Eurasian continent and North Africa, and inhabiting mainly in Saitama Prefecture in Japan. Eurasian Collared Dove is one of the most prosperous invaders in the world, and Japanese Eurasian Collared Dove has also been introduced from overseas. The Japanese population has declined to one-hundredth over 30 years and is being protected. In this study, we analyzed its genetic diversity in order to understand the genetic differences between wild populations of Eurasian Collared Dove and those bred in zoos.

Methods A sequence of about 1.9 kb mtDNA was determined for 20 wild Eurasian Collared Doves living in Saitama, Japan and 20 zoo-bred Eurasian Collared Doves, and population genetic analysis was performed.

Results In the COI gene, 778 bp had the same sequence in all the 40 individuals examined, and no mutation sites could be confirmed. In the control region, two base substitution sites were confirmed in 1140 bp long sequence. Three haplotypes were detected in 20 individuals in wild, whereas all 20 zoo-bred individuals possessed the same haplotypes possessed in the wild population.

Conclusion Haplotypes of zoo-bred individuals were also retained among the wild individuals, confirming that no genetic problems could occur if the zoo-bred individuals were released to the wild for the Japanese Eurasian Collared Dove propagation program.