Nikolai S. Mugue

• Ph.D. in Biology, Rutgers, USA
• Principal Investigator at All-Russian Research Institute Fisheries and Oceanography

The purpose of the work: to study the genetic structure and genetic heterogeneity inherent in various beluga populations for the competent construction of the restocking process of the species. Scientific novelty: for the first time, the results of studying the genetic diversity of mtDNA control region of beluga in its entire range and brood stock...

Gyrodactylus teuchis is a widespread in Western and Central Europe parasite of wild and farmed salmonid fishes. We recorded this parasite species on one-year-old caged rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss from Lake Kalmozero (White Sea drainage system, Republic of Karelia, Russia) in May and October 2023. The infection prevalence was 100% and 75%, and...

Aquaculture supplies the world food market with a significant amount of valuable protein. Highly productive aquaculture fishes can be derived by utilizing genome-editing methods, and the main problem is to choose a target gene to obtain the desirable phenotype. This paper presents a review of the studies of genome editing for genes controlling body...

The primary genetic challenge encountered in artificial populations lies in the strong genetic drift, which leads to the accumulation of numerous slightly deleterious mutations across the genome. Such mutations diminish the adaptability of the entire population. The objective of this project involves the investigation and implementation of genetic...

Foxg1 is a key regulator of the early development of the vertebrate forebrain and sensory organs. In this study, we describe for the first time three foxg1 paralogues in lamprey, representative of one of two basally diverged lineages of vertebrates—the agnathans. We also first describe three foxg1 genes in sterlet—representative of one of the evolu...

The aim of the work: characterization of juveniles released from sturgeon hatcheries into the natural habitat with individual identification of individuals. Methods: Ichthyological researches in the Volga River and its watercourses were surveyed using a 4.5 m fry trawl; in the western part of the Northern Caspian, a trawl survey was carried out usi...

Льву Анатольевичу Животовскому, профессору, доктору биологических наук, выдающемуся учёному, внёсшему большой вклад в популяционную и эволюционную генетику, заведующему лабораторией генетических проблем идентификации Института общей генетики им. Н.И. Вавилова РАН, главному научному сотруднику Отдела молекулярной генетики ВНИРО, лауреату Государстве...

For evolutionary biology, the phenotypic consequences of epigenetic variations and their potential contribution to adaptation and diversification are pressing issues. Marine and freshwater sticklebacks represent an ideal model for studying both genetic and epigenetic components of phenotypic plasticity that allow fish to inhabit water with differen...

There is limited information available for Small Amu-Darya Shovelnose Sturgeon (Pseudoscaphirhynchus hermanni). The species is found very rarely and populations are considered to be very small. There are no published estimates of population sizes or declines, but a decline is suspected since the range of the species and the available habitat declin...

The Amu Darya Shovelnose Sturgeon (Pseudoscaphirhynchus kaufmanni) is endemic to the Amu Darya River drainage. It has been extirpated from lower Amu Darya due to water abstraction. Water pollution and poaching are deemed to be the major threats to the species. The population is suspected to have declined by more than 80% over the last three generat...

Syr-Darya Shovelnose Sturgeon Pseudoscaphirhynchus fedtschenkoi has most recently been assessed for The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in 2019. Pseudoscaphirhynchus fedtschenkoi is listed as Critically Endangered under criteria A2bc.

Long-term (2004–2018) virological studies have shown that the Kurile Lake is a natural focus of infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHNV). A hypothesis about the survival of the virus as a species is discussed. The results of the phylogenetic analysis of the midG region showed that typical IHNV genetic sequences found in sockeye salmon from Ku...

The freshwater pearl mussel Margaritifera margaritifera is a unionid species distributed across Northwestern Russia, Fennoscandia, Western and Southwestern Europe, and the Atlantic Coast of North America. In this study, we reconstructed the post-glacial expansion routes of this species based on FST genetic distances and the fact that M. margaritife...

Complete mitochondrial genomes of four species of Ethiopian speckled brush-furred rats Lophuromys (L. chrysopus, L. menageshae, L. melanonyx, and L. simensis) were assembled for the first time. We provide data concerning the sequencing, assembly, and annotation of the obtained mitogenomes; compare two widely used circular-genome annotation tools (M...

Fish diversification into sympatric ecomorph pairs demonstrates a striking parallelism across a number of taxa in numerous lakes. However, there is a dearth of information on environmental conditions, which may orchestrate divergence processes across generations. Here we explore whether the environmental factors affecting food and reproductive nich...

The monogenean freshwater parasite Gyrodactylus salaris Malmberg, 1957 is endemic to Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) east of the Baltic Sea, but has spread outside this area via transport and stocking of fish. In Norway and Russia, infections with G. salaris have had catastrophic consequences for many salmon populations. The parasite is also common o...

In this study, five new mitogenomes from four endemic Lake Baikal sculpins were determined: Cottocomephorus grewingkii (Dybowski, 1874) (GB#MW732165), Cottocomephorus inermis (Yakovlev, 1890) (GB#MW732163), and Paracottus knerii (Dybowski, 1874) (GB#MW732164) (Family Cottocomephoridae – Bighead sculpins), and from two specimens of Procottus major T...

Adaptive radiation of freshwater fishes was long thought to be possible only in lacustrine environments. Recently, several studies have shown that also riverine and stream environments provide the ecological opportunity for adaptive radiation. In this study, we report on a riverine adaptive radiation of six ecomorphs of cyprinid hillstream fishes o...

Adaptive radiation of fishes was long thought to be possible only in lacustrine environments. Recently, several studies have shown that also riverine and stream environments provide the ecological opportunity for adaptive radiation. In this study, we report on a riverine adaptive radiation of six ecomorphs of cyprinid hillstream fishes of the genus...

Adaptive radiation of fishes was long thought to be possible only in lacustrine environments. Recently, several studies have shown that also riverine and stream environments provide the ecological opportunity for adaptive radiation. In this study, we report on a riverine adaptive radiation of six ecomorphs of cyprinid hillstream fishes of the genus...

Aim The restoration of the extinct Adriatic population of Beluga sturgeon, an iconic species with economic and traditional relevance, is a priority in upcoming conservation strategies but it must not occur without deep prior knowledge on the current diversity distribution. We defined informed criteria for the reintroduction of Beluga in Italian riv...

Evolutionary history, systematics and taxonomy of charrs of the genus Salvelinus and especially of the representatives of the S. alpinus–S. malma species complex remain confused that is connected with a substantial ecological and morphological flexibility of this group and with supposed ancient hybridization between some taxa. For the analysis of p...

The state of natural spawning of sturgeons in the Lower Volga River was investigated through genetic monitoring of juveniles (larvae, fingerlings, subadults) captured at seven traditionally used monitoring locations. Sampling was performed during the period 2017–2019. In total, 460 individuals were caught and genotyped using a set of six microsatel...

The enigmatic and poorly studied sturgeon genus Pseudoscaphirhynchus (Scaphirhynchinae: Acipenseridae) comprises three species: the Amu Darya shovelnose sturgeon (Pseudoscaphirhynchus kaufmanni (Bogdanow)), dwarf Amu Darya shovelnose sturgeon P. hermanni (Kessler), and Syr Darya shovelnose sturgeon (P. fedtschenkoi (Bogdanow). Two species – P. herm...

Evolutionary history, systematics and taxonomy of charrs of the genus Salvelinus and especially of the representatives of the S. alpinus - S. malma species complex remain confused that is connected with a substantial ecological and morphological flexibility of this group and with supposed ancient hybridization between some taxa. For the analysis of...

We propose three calibration scenarios of to date contemporary divergence of Anoplopomatidae (skilfish Erilepis zonifer and sablefish Anoplopoma fimbria ) for a data set of two mtDNA loci (СOI and Control Region). The first scenario is based upon a fossil record and the second and third ones upon major palaeogeological events 3.5 and 15 Mya. Estima...

Adaptation of threespine stickleback to freshwater involves parallel recruitment of freshwater alleles in clusters of closely linked sites, or divergence islands (DIs). However, it remains unclear to what extent the DIs and the alleles that constitute them coincide between populations that underwent adaptation to freshwater independently. We examin...

Sturgeons represent a substantial scientific interest due to their high economic value, endangered status and also as the most primitive group of ray-finned fishes. Rapid progress in knowledge of sturgeon immunity was achieved recently with use of RNA sequencing. We report transcriptome sequencing of gill, head kidney, and spleen of bester sturgeon...

Large African barbs of the genus Labeobarbus constitute a hexaploid lineage (2 n = 150). This group is widely distributed in African freshwaters, and exhibits profound phenotypic variation that could be a prerequisite for adaptive radiation. Using morphological, molecular, and stable isotope analyses, we investigated whether an adaptive radiation h...

ERRATUM: In the poster that was previously available it was stated that Gyrodactylus salaris had been diagnosed from the river Kola in addition to River Tuloma. This is not correct. The parasite has so far just been found in the River Tuloma with tributaries. To avoid misunderstandings, the poster has therefore been corrected. ABSTRACT: Wild popul...

Phylogenetic relationships and phylogeography of six species of Caucasian barbels, the genus Barbus s. str., were studied based on extended geographic coverage and using mtDNA and nDNA markers. Based on 27 species studied, matrilineal phylogeny of the genus Barbus is composed of two clades – (a) West European clade, (b) Central and East European cl...

Large African barbs of the genus Labeobarbus are widely distributed in African freshwaters, and exhibit profound phenotypic plasticity that could be a prerequisite for adaptive radiation. Using morphological, molecular, and stable isotope analyses, we investigated whether an adaptive radiation has occurred in a riverine assemblage of the L. gananen...

The phylogenetic relationships and the phylogeography of seven species of Caucasian barbels of the genus Barbus s. str. were studied based on extended geographic coverage and the use of mtDNA and nDNA markers. Based on the 26 species studied, matrilineal phylogeny of the genus Barbus is composed of two clades: a) West European clade, and b) Central...

We developed a presence/absence nuclear marker that enables discrimination of Siberian sturgeon and Russian sturgeon from nine other sturgeon species with the probability of 99% and 96%, respectively. The marker did not discriminate between these two species. Its presence was also detected in 45% of Persian sturgeon specimens. The primary value of...

The whole animal diversity is unknown and the process of describing new species is ongoing to date. Meanwhile, increase of human activities leads to the ecosystem degradation, destruction of native habitats and direct extinction of many animal species. Museum specimens are increasingly attracted in evolutionary and conservation biology for solving...

Threespine sticklebacks adapted to freshwater environments all over the Northern Hemisphere. This adaptation involved parallel recruitment of freshwater alleles in clusters of closely linked sites, or divergence islands (DIs). However, it is unclear to what extent the DIs involved in adaptation and the alleles within them coincide between populatio...

Background Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common and aggressive type of malignant liver tumor. HCC progression depends significantly on its vascularization and formation of new blood vessels. Vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA) is a crucial regulator of tumor vascularization and components of VEGF-induced cell signaling pathway...

Table S1. List of primers used in RT-PCR and RT-qPCR analysis.

Fig. S1. PCR products arising from VEGFA-iso primers and corresponding to different isoforms of VEGFA mRNA. Lengths of DNA markers are indicated on the left, VEGFA isoforms are indicated on the right. The unmarked band under VEGFA-165 PCR product corresponds to heteroduplex of VEGFA-165 and VEGFA-121 PCR products but not to any certain VEGFA isofor...

Table S3. Encoding of HCC clinicopathological features into numbers for carrying out Spearman’s correlation test.

Fig. S3. Alterations of expression levels of VEGFA-xxxb in individual HCC tissue samples in comparison to corresponding NT samples. Data are presented as NT/HCC ratios in logarithmic scale.

Table S2. Correspondence between PCR products and target VEGFA transcripts. “Unique sequence regions” represent fragments of PCR products identified by direct sequencing (Data S2) that were long enough to be unambiguously matched to certain VEGFA transcripts or groups of transcripts.

Data S1. Conditions of semi-quantitative and quantitative RT-PCR analysis.

Data S2. Verification of correspondence between PCR products and individual VEGFA isoforms by sequencing.

Data S3. Estimation of quantity of mature VEGFA transcripts lacking residual intron sequences.

Data S4. Data obtained in RT-qPCR analysis for each examined sample. Spreadsheets of the file contain raw data on fractions of VEGFA isoforms and TBP-normalized data on expression levels of VEGFA isoforms in all examined tissue samples. These data were used for plot generation and statistical analysis. More detailed information on each of spreadshe...

Fig. S2. Fraction of unspliced VEGFA transcripts retaining intron 5 in the total pool of all VEGFA transcripts. Data for all samples set (n=100) are presented as box-and-whisker plot.

In this chapter, we cover different genetic aspects of A. baerii. Phylogenetic position of Siberian sturgeon among other Acipenseriformes, genomic organization, and events of polyploidization are discussed. Genetic variation in four natural populations of the Siberian sturgeon (rivers Ob, Yenisei and Lena and Lake Baikal) is assessed for mitochondr...

Genetic variation of aquaculture broodstocks of the Siberian sturgeon of different origin from 13 farms across the Russian Federation was assessed at five tetraploid microsatellite loci and the mitochondrial DNA control region. At present, in aquaculture stocks of Siberian sturgeon originating from the Lena and Ob rivers, a sharp decline of haploty...

China has recently become the leader country for sturgeon aquaculture and caviar production, deeply changing the traditional geography of this market in few years. As a consequence, some species originating from the Far East Asia increased their economic relevance, joining the ones traditionally harvested for caviar. In this context, the possibilit...

The three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) represents a convenient model to study microevolution-adaptation to a freshwater environment. Although genetic adaptations to freshwater environments are well-studied, epigenetic adaptations have attracted little attention. In this work, we investigated the role of DNA methylation in the adaptat...

Six postglacial lakes were studied along both sides of the Kamchatka central mountain range, Russia. Pairs of local morphotypes of species of Arctic charrs, Salvelinus spp., have previously been described from the southernmost lakes while the fish fauna of the four northernmost lakes was studied here for the first time. Phenotypic data support the...

Five populations of Siberian sturgeon Acipenser baerii collected throughout the species distribution range (Lake Baikal, Lena, Yenisei, Kolyma, and Irtysh rivers) were examined for genetic polymorphism using five tetraploid microsatellite loci and the mitochondrial DNA control region. It was demonstrated that Siberian sturgeon was represented by ge...

Sturgeons are well known for the delicacy of their eggs, the caviar, one of the most valuable products on the food market. The high price of caviar led in the past to a severe overharvest of wild sturgeon species and to an increase in trade of counterfeit products sold with impunity in spite of the strict trade limitations. A priority in the effort...

Endemic species flocks inhabiting ancient lakes, oceanic islands and other long-lived isolated habitats are often interpreted as adaptive radiations. Yet molecular evidence for directional selection during species flocks radiation is scarce. Using partial transcriptomes of 64 species of Lake Baikal (Siberia, Russia) endemic amphipods and two non-en...

High level of intraspecific polymorphism of the mtDNA cytochrome b gene in the Atlantic cod Gadus morhua L. from the northeastern part of the species range (Barents and White seas) is detected. The absence of genetic differentiation between the samples from different areas of the Norwegian and Barents seas is shown, and the fact that these samples...

Two complete mitochondrial genome sequences of ship sturgeon Acipenser nudiventris from the Caspian Sea and from Balkhash Lake (introduced from the Aral Sea during the last century) were determined by PCR-based sequencing method. The whole mitogenome sequences have been deposited in GenBank under accession numbers KU321568 and KU321569.

Aim. To identify potential cancer driving or clinically relevant molecular events for a patient with hepatocellular carcinoma. Methods. In order to achieve this goal, we performed RNA-seq and exome sequencing for the tumor tissue and its matched control. We annotated the alterations found using several publicly available databases and bioinformatic...

Genetic differentiation of the Pacific cod Gadus macrocephalus was studied. Samples from six regions of the Sea of Okhotsk and the Bering Sea were analyzed with two mtDNA genetic markers-gene of cytochrome 1 and the control region (D-loop). Comparative analysis showed significant genetic differentiation between the two groups of samples. The first...

Morphological, cultural, and physiological characteristics of 19 Helminthosporium-like hyphomycetes isolated from the White Sea were studied. Taxonomic status of the isolates was verified using molecular genetics techniques. One of the isolates was identified as Alternatia sp., while the rest of the marine isolates belonged to the species Paradendr...

The genetic differentiation of two populations of Balkhash perch Perca schrenki Kessler, 1874 was examined. The study included (1) the population of Lake Balkhash and the Ili River delta, where this species is protected and it is prohibited to catch them, and (2) the population of Alakol Lake system, where it is the main commercial species and form...

The diversity of phenotypically different and often reproductively isolated lacustrine forms of charrs of the genus Salvelinus represents a substantial problem for taxonomists and evolutionary biologists. Based on the analysis of variability of ten microsatellite loci and two fragments of mitochondrial DNA (control region and cyt-b gene), the evolu...

The effective population size (Ne) is a crucial characteristic of numerically small populations, positively correlated with their ability to persist in a changing environment and to evolve. Information about the lower bounds of Ne of natural populations is both theoretically interesting and practically important. We studied Kildin cod, an isolated...

The nucleotide sequences of two regions of the mitochondrial genome (D-loop region and Cyt b gene) have been determined for the first time in sympatric charrs of the genus Salvelinus from Nachikinskoe Lake (Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia) and compared to mitochondrial DNA sequences deposited in Gen-Bank. The level of nucleotide differences in the two...

The charrs of the genus Salvelinus from the upper part of the Shumnaya River basin forage in the shallow thermal lake, and make a downstream spawning migration to the river and its tributaries in early fall. The life span of the fishes is no longer than eleven years, maximum body length and weight reach 55 cm and 1.6 kg, respectively. The abundance...

Исследована генетическая дифференциация тихоокеанской трески Gadus macrocephalus. Проанали� зировано шесть выборок из Охотского и Берингова морей по двум участкам мтДНК – гену цитро� хрома b и контрольного региона. Сравнительный анализ показал достоверную генетическую диф� ференциацию между двумя группами выборок. В первую группу вошла треска из Та...

We investigated polymorphisms in the pantophysin gene (Pan I locus) in a population of Northeast Arctic cod, Gadus morhua L., throughout its foraging area in the Barents Sea and adjacent waters. Correlations between the frequencies of Pan I alleles and habitat conditions, such as depth and temperature, were explored. This study was based on a large...

We investigated polymorphisms in the pantophysin gene (Pan I locus) in a population of Northeast Arctic cod, Gadus morhua L., throughout its foraging area in the Barents Sea and adjacent waters. Correlations between the frequencies of Pan I alleles and habitat conditions, such as depth and temperature, were explored. This study was based on a large...

Adaptation is driven by natural selection; however, many adaptations are caused by weak selection acting over large timescales, complicating its study. Therefore, it is rarely possible to study selection comprehensively in natural environments. The threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) is a well-studied model organism with a short generat...

The nucleotide sequences of the mtDNA cytochrome oxidase I (COI) gene fragment 535 bp long (pos. 100 to 634) in 14 midge species (Diptera, Chironomidae): Dicrotendipes nervosus, Endochironomus albipennis, E. tendens, Glyptotendipes barbipes, G. glaucus, G. gripekoveni, G. imbecillis, G. mancunianus, Polypedilum sordens, Stenochironomus gibbus, Syne...

Whole mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) sequences provide a powerful approach for investigating and hypothesizing relationships at a broad range of phylogenetic levels, and these data have been used extensively across the diversity of fishes. Mitogenome sequence studies have typically used an exemplar approach wherein one individual is sampled and...

Some holoplanktonic species are cosmopolitan and have continuous distribution in the world’s oceans. For most of these species it is not clear whether there is unhampered gene flow between far distant populations or they represent a complex of cryptic species. In the present study we investigated genetic diversity of the cosmopolitan chaetognath Eu...

The genetic polymorphism of the pike perch Sander lucioperca, sampled on the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan (Lake Balkhash, Urals River, Syrdarya River and Shardara water reservoir, North Aral Sea) and in the Volga River, and the bersh Sandler volgensis (Lake Balkhash, Volga River) populations was examined at six microsatellite loci and th...

Background / Purpose: We studied aspects of Ponto-Caspian sturgeon evolutionary relations, focusing on Russian, Siberian and Persian sturgeon species. Main conclusion: Our data confirms that the Siberian sturgeon has formed a separate branch to the Persian-Russian sturgeon cluster. DNA markers show that the Persian sturgeon is a younger specie...

This study presents data on the DNA analysis of recent (2011-2013) samplings of Antarctic toothfish (Dissostichus mawsoni) from CCAMLR Subarea 48.5 (2013) and SSRUs 486G (2011), 5841E and 5841FG (2011), 5842E (2011), 881C (2011), 882A (2011, 2012) and 883C (2012). No significant genetic differences between geographic locations, or between samples c...

Analysis of the fragment of the mtDNA gene СО1 has revealed two genetically distinct groups of the Metridia lucens complex in the South part of the Atlantic. While the intragroup polymorphism was less than 1%, the intergroup difference was about 9.5%. These two groups may be considered as representing two cryptic species within the M. lucens comple...