The Study of Genetic Variation in Different Populations of The Zigzag Mountain Viper (Montivipera albicornuta) in its Distribution Range By Using Mitochondrial Gene Sequencing

The zigzag mountain viper (Montivipera albicornuta) was first described in 1985 by Goran Nilson and Clases Andren. Since that time it is known as an Iranian endemic viper species. Its geographical distribution range is confined to Iran in four provinces of Gilan, Ghazvin, Eastern Azebayejan and Zanjan, usually inhabiting the highlands and mountains with over 2500m elevation. In order to determine the amounts of genetic variation among different populations of this species in three geographically distant localities, 35 specimens of this species in three provinces of Gilan, Zanjan and eastern Azerbaijan Were collected. After extracting the genomic DNA, Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) were used to amplify the mitochondrial CO1 gene in all specimens. The amplified DNA fragments were then sequenced and analyzed with PAUP and Mega5 softwares. Phylogenetic methods of Maximum Parsimony, Maximum Laikelihood and Neighbor Joining were applied to recinstruct phylogeny of the populations. The results of this study indicated that different populations of Montivipera albicornuta is Iran are quite homogenous genetically, so that the mean genetic difference among its populations is not greater than 0/005. This results indicate that the zigzag mountain viper may distributed in Iran quite recently so that the geographically different populations are just in the beginning of a speciation process.