Data from: Koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus) from Queensland are genetically distinct from 2 populations in Victoria

The koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) suffered population declines and local extirpation due to hunting in the early 20th century, especially in southern Australia. Koalas were subsequently reintroduced to the Brisbane Ranges (BR) and Stony Rises (SR) by translocating individuals from a population on French Island descended from a small number of founders. To examine genetic diversity and north–south differentiation, we genotyped 13 microsatellite markers in 46 wild koalas from the BR and SR, and 27 Queensland koalas kept at the US zoos. The Queensland koalas displayed much higher heterozygosity (H O = 0.73) than the 2 southern Australian koala populations examined: H O = 0.49 in the BR, whereas H O = 0.41 in the SR. This is consistent with the historical accounts of bottlenecks and founder events affecting the southern populations and contrasts with reports of high genetic diversity in some southern populations. The 2 southern Australian koala populations were genetically similar (F ST = 0.018, P = 0.052). By contrast, northern and southern Australian koalas were highly differentiated (F ST = 0.27, P < 0.001), thereby suggesting that geographic structuring should be considered in the conservation management of koalas. Sequencing of 648bp of the mtDNA control region in Queensland koalas found 8 distinct haplotypes, one of which had not been previously detected among koalas. Queensland koalas displayed high mitochondrial haplotype diversity (H = 0.753) and nucleotide diversity (π = 0.0072), indicating along with the microsatellite data that North American zoos have maintained high levels of genetic diversity among their Queensland koalas.

考拉（*Phascolarctos cinereus*）在20世纪早期因捕猎活动出现种群数量下降与局部灭绝，在澳大利亚南部地区尤为严重。此后，研究人员通过从法国岛种群（该种群起源于少数奠基个体）中转移个体，将考拉重新引入布里斯班岭（Brisbane Ranges, BR）与斯通岭（Stony Rises, SR）。为探究遗传多样性与南北种群分化情况，本研究对来自BR和SR的46只野生考拉，以及饲养于美国动物园的27只昆士兰考拉进行了13个微卫星（microsatellite）标记的基因分型。结果显示，昆士兰考拉的杂合度（H_O=0.73）显著高于本研究检测的2个澳大利亚南部考拉种群：BR种群的杂合度为0.49，SR种群则为0.41。该结果与历史记录中南部种群经历瓶颈效应与奠基者事件的结论一致，但与部分报道中南部种群遗传多样性较高的结果相悖。两个澳大利亚南部考拉种群的遗传相似性较高（F_ST=0.018，P=0.052）。相比之下，澳大利亚北部与南部的考拉种群分化程度极高（F_ST=0.27，P<0.001），这提示在考拉的保护管理中应考虑地理种群结构的影响。对昆士兰考拉线粒体DNA（mitochondrial DNA, mtDNA）控制区648bp片段的测序结果显示，共存在8种独特的单倍型，其中1种为此前在考拉种群中未被检测到的单倍型。昆士兰考拉的线粒体单倍型多样性（H=0.753）与核苷酸多样性（π=0.0072）均处于较高水平，结合微卫星标记数据可知，美国动物园饲养的昆士兰考拉种群维持了较高的遗传多样性水平。