Allozyme variations in Anatolian populations and cytotypes of the blind mole rats (Nannospalax)

• We analyzed allozyme diversity across Anatolia, based on 28 allozymic loci in 12 mol rat cytotypes.
• We determined deviations from Hardy–Weinberg in examined populations were due to heterozygote deficiency.
• Each cytotype group was genetically distinct, and genetic diversity is not low.
• The results showed that Nannospalax nehringi and Nannospalax xanthodon are separate species.
• We classified the central Anatolian mole rats (2n = 56, 58, and 60) as a different species Nannospalax cilicicus.

Enzymatic proteins encoded by 28 putative loci in 326 samples of 12 mol rat cytotypes collected from 97 localities in Anatolia were investigated by standard horizontal starch-gel electrophoresis. A total of 61 alleles were determined for 28 isozyme loci and 23 of the 28 were polymorphic. Eight of the 23 polymorphic loci were agreeable to the Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium. It was determined that deviations from the Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium in the examined populations were due to a heterozygote deficiency. It was revealed by allozyme analyses that mole rat populations in Anatolia have formed 4 cytotypes groups, represented by 4 species (Nannospalax xanthodon, Nannospalax ehrenbergi, N. cilicicus, and N. nehringi). Cytotypes in western Anatolia (2n = 36, 2n = 38, 2n = 40, 2n = 52) showed private alleles in different enzyme systems; therefore, these cytotypes were genetically different, both from each other and other cytotypes. Although cytotypes in central Anatolia (2n = 52S, 2n = 56, 2n = 58, and 2n = 60) contained a different diploid chromosome number, they showed identical patterns in terms of their allele content in the 28 enzymatic loci.