Baba, Y., Koike, H., Okayama, T. & Fujimaki, Y. 1997: Mitochondrial DNA analysis using feathers of rock ptarmigan Lagopus mutus japonicus and hazel grouse Bonasa bonasia in Japan. - Wildl. Biol. 3: 277.
The rock ptarmigan Lagopus mutus japonicus is listed as an endangered species in the Japanese Environment Agency's Red Data Book (1991). Their populations, now about 3,000, are declining, because their habitat is restricted to the creeping pine forest of the Japanese Alps. Feather samples of rock ptarmigan were collected from four main local populations (Hakuba, Tateyama, Oomachi, Norikura) in the Japanese Alps during the moulting season between May and June. Wing samples of hazel grouse Bonasa bonasia were obtained during the hunting season from wild birds in Hokkaido. Seven specific primers were designed to amplify whole sequences of the control region of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) using the PCR method. Whole sequence data on the mtDNA control region for rock ptarmigan, hazel grouse, Japanese quail Coturnix japonica, and chicken had a length of 1,251 bp in the consensus sequence, showing they have more polymorphic sites between 150 and 450 bp, and between 1,000 and 1,250 bp from the beginning of the control region. No polymorphic sites were found on the 757 bps in the control region for 15 samples of rock ptarmigan from the four local populations in the Japanese Alps. Hazel grouse had 21 polymorphic sites on the 441 bps in the control region for 36 samples, suggesting that rock ptarmigan in the Japanese Alps had little genetic variability.
Key words: Bonasa bonasia, control region sequence, hazel grouse, Japan, Lagopus mutus japonicus, mitochondrial DNA, rock ptarmigan
Yoshiyuki Baba, Hiroko Koike & Toshinao Okayama, Graduate School of Social and Cultural Studies, Kyushu University, Ropponmatu 4-2-1, Chuo-ku, Fukuoka 810, Japan
Yuzou Fujimaki, Wildlife Ecology, Obihiro University, Inadamati West 2 Line 11, Obihiro City, Hokkaido 080, Japan