Revision of nucleotide substitution rate in mtDNA control region of white sturgeon Acipenser transmontanus (Acipenseridae)

Abstract

The raw data from study of variation of D-loop mtDNA of white sturgeon Acipenser transmontanus (Mol. Biol. Evol. 1993. 10: 326-341) was re-analyzed. Re-calculated nucleotide substitution rate ({\mu}) was 0.782-0.939 x 10-7 substitutions/site/year/lineage, which was 1.4 times less than the estimate given in above-mentioned publication. The use of new {\mu} has led to an increase in estimates of long-term female effective population size (Nef) and coalescence times for mtDNA haplotypes, previously calculated for samples of Amur sturgeon A. schrenckii and kaluga A. dauricus, but it did not affect the conclusions on the critical state of their natural populations.