Introgression among maternal lineages inferred from complete mitogenomes and molecular dating helps resolve phylogeography of European roe deer
Abstract
The European roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) is one of the most widespread ungulates in Europe, with a phylogeographic structure mainly shaped by Pleistocene glacial cycles and secondary contacts with the Siberian roe deer (C. pygargus). MethodsWe sequenced 52 complete mitogenomes of C. capreolus from Slovenia, Poland and France, and combined them with 24 publicly available sequences of C. capreolus and C. pygargus, yielding an alignment of 76 genomes representing 59 haplotypes (42 from C. capreolus and 17 from C. pygargus). Phylogeographic structure was assessed using a median-joining network, and divergence times were estimated using a time-calibrated Bayesian phylogeny based on mitochondrial coding regions, incorporating published ancient C. pygargus mitogenomes. We additionally screened mitochondrial protein-coding genes for selection.
ResultsThe haplotype network recovered the three major European roe deer clades (Eastern, Central, and Western) and detected Central-clade haplotypes in France. Two Polish haplotypes (Cp9 and Cp10), detected in C. capreolus, clustered within the C. pygargus mitochondrial lineage, supporting mitochondrial introgression. Time-calibrated phylogenies placed introgressed haplotypes within established C. pygargus lineages. Selection analyses provided limited evidence for episodic positive selection restricted to a small number of codons.
Conclusions Whole mitogenomes improve resolution of roe deer phylogeography and reveal introgressed maternal lineages, while time-calibrated phylogenies and selection tests add evolutionary context for interpreting mtDNA diversity in genus Capreolus.
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BibTeX
@article{buzan2026introgression,
title = {{Introgression among maternal lineages inferred from complete mitogenomes and molecular dating helps resolve phylogeography of European roe deer}},
author = {Elena Buzan and Stefan Cidilko and Luka Duniš and Tilen Komel and Boštjan Pokorny and A J Mark Hewison and Anna Korzekwa},
journal = {BMC Ecology and Evolution},
year = {2026},
month = jun,
doi = {10.1186/s12862-026-02540-w},
url = {https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-05754147v1},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Introgression among maternal lineages inferred from complete mitogenomes and molecular dating helps resolve phylogeography of European roe deer
AU - Elena Buzan
AU - Stefan Cidilko
AU - Luka Duniš
AU - Tilen Komel
AU - Boštjan Pokorny
AU - A J Mark Hewison
AU - Anna Korzekwa
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/06/17
JO - BMC Ecology and Evolution
DO - 10.1186/s12862-026-02540-w
UR - https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-05754147v1
AB - The European roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) is one of the most widespread ungulates in Europe, with a phylogeographic structure mainly shaped by Pleistocene glacial cycles and secondary contacts with the Siberian roe deer (C. pygargus). MethodsWe sequenced 52 complete mitogenomes of C. capreolus from Slovenia, Poland and France, and combined them with 24 publicly available sequences of C. capreolus and C. pygargus, yielding an alignment of 76 genomes representing 59 haplotypes (42 from C. capreolus and 17 from C. pygargus). Phylogeographic structure was assessed using a median-joining network, and divergence times were estimated using a time-calibrated Bayesian phylogeny based on mitochondrial coding regions, incorporating published ancient C. pygargus mitogenomes. We additionally screened mitochondrial protein-coding genes for selection. ResultsThe haplotype network recovered the three major European roe deer clades (Eastern, Central, and Western) and detected Central-clade haplotypes in France. Two Polish haplotypes (Cp9 and Cp10), detected in C. capreolus, clustered within the C. pygargus mitochondrial lineage, supporting mitochondrial introgression. Time-calibrated phylogenies placed introgressed haplotypes within established C. pygargus lineages. Selection analyses provided limited evidence for episodic positive selection restricted to a small number of codons. Conclusions Whole mitogenomes improve resolution of roe deer phylogeography and reveal introgressed maternal lineages, while time-calibrated phylogenies and selection tests add evolutionary context for interpreting mtDNA diversity in genus Capreolus.
SN - 2730-7182
SN - 2730-7182
ER -