| Research Abstract |
Geographic variations of maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA were examined for the Japanese macaque. Sequencing analysis of 412 bp in the D-loop region for 105 samples from 81 localities revealed 43 haplotypes. They were classified into two major groups, eastern and western groups. Their border was located near the border between the Kinki and Chugoku districts. As an exceptional case, the populations from Okutama and Chichibu area in the Kanto district showed distinct types which were close to those in the western group.
In general, the distribution of mtDNA variation was restricted to particular geographic range. The type was unusually uniform in the Tohoku district. The number of nucleotide substitutions among the haplotypes was smaller in east than in west, suggesting difference in population history between monkeys in east and west. As geographic range of mtDNA variations is to be changed through the fission of social groups, low degree of mtDNA diversity may indicate recent expansion of ancestral population in eastern part of Japan, probably after the last glacial period. The uniform distribution of mtDNA type in the Tohoku district may result from re-invasion to north succeeding to the postglacial change of climatic and vegetational conditions.
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