A phylogenetic study of four species of Lasiurus (Chiroptera: Vespertillionidae) using the ZFX/ZFY loci

Abstract

The Zfx/Zfy nuclear gene loci from four species in the genus Lasiurus were examined using restriction fragment analysis of amplff ied polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products. Because the PCR products of the two genes could not be separated, they were analyzed together and considered as a single locus. Three species were members of the L. borealis species group (red bats), and the fourth was a member of the L. cinereus species group (hoary bats). A phylogeny was constructed from restriction sites located within the intron region upstream from the Zinc finger exon. The resultant gene tree, depicting a sister-taxon relationship between L. seminolous and L. blossevilli, was found to be incongruent when compared to an existing mitochondrial DNA phylogeny that depicted L. borealis and L. blossevilli as sister taxa. Thus, this study suggests an alternative evolutionary pattern for the red bats. In addition, this study demonstrates that the intron region of Zfx/Zfy is variable within and among species of vespertillionid bats, and with the development of locus-specff ic primers, paternally inherited genetic markers can be studied.