Phylogeographic genomics of mitochondrial DNA: Highly-resolved patterns of intraspecific evolution and a multi-species, microarray-based DNA sequencing strategy for biodiversity studies

Phylogeographic genomics, based on multiple complete mtDNA genome sequences from within individual vertebrate species, provides highly-resolved intraspecific trees for the detailed study of evolutionary biology. We describe new biogeographic and historical insights from our studies of the genomes of codfish, wolffish, and harp seal populations in the Northwest Atlantic, and from the descendants of the founding human population of Newfoundland. Population genomics by conventional sequencing methods remains laborious. A new biotechnology, iterative DNA “re-sequencing”, uses a DNA microarray to recover 30–300 kb of contiguous DNA sequence in a single experiment. Experiments with a single-species mtDNA microarray show that the method is accurate and efficient, and sufficiently species-specific to discriminate mtDNA genomes of moderately-divergent taxa. Experiments with a multi-species DNA microarray (the “ArkChip”) show that simultaneous sequencing of species in different orders and classes detects SNPs within each taxon with equal accuracy as single-species-specific experiments. Iterative DNA sequencing offers a practical method for high-throughput biodiversity genomics that will enable standardized, coordinated investigation of multiple species of interest to Species at Risk and conservation biologists.