Short CommunicationRAD-seq derived genome-wide nuclear markers resolve the phylogeny of tunas

- RAD-seq derived data successfully resolved phylogenetic relationships within Thunnus.
- The inclusion of Bigeye in Neothunnus challenges previous definition of this subgenus.
- The theory of mitochondrial introgression not involving nuclear genome is reinforced.
- Atlantic and Pacific Bluefin tunas are genetically differentiated lineages.

Although species from the genus Thunnus include some of the most commercially important and most severely overexploited fishes, the phylogeny of this genus is still unresolved, hampering evolutionary and traceability studies that could help improve conservation and management strategies for these species. Previous attempts based on mitochondrial and nuclear markers were unsuccessful in inferring a congruent and reliable phylogeny, probably due to mitochondrial introgression events and lack of enough phylogenetically informative markers. Here we infer the first genome-wide nuclear marker-based phylogeny of tunas using restriction site associated DNA sequencing (RAD-seq) data. Our results, derived from phylogenomic inferences obtained from 128 nucleotide matrices constructed using alternative data assembly procedures, support a single Thunnus evolutionary history that challenges previous assumptions based on morphological and molecular data.