Neutral markers confirm the octoploid origin and reveal spontaneous autopolyploidy in white sturgeon, Acipenser transmontanus

The role of polyploidy in vertebrate genome evolution remains a fertile area of research and sturgeons (order Acipenseriformes) provide a unique model of genome duplication, with species possessing similar to 120, similar to 250 or similar to 360 chromosomes. Cytogenetic and molecular data have been used to support different hypotheses about the number of genome duplications in this polyploid series; however, few studies have examined inheritance in sturgeons, although evaluation of polysomic segregation ratios is crucial to inferring ancestral genome duplication level in a polyploid species. Here we examine the inheritance of eight microsatellite loci in fifteen white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) families of known parentage to infer the level of genome duplication. Microsatellites were detected as four or eight copy loci. Numbers of alleles per locus, transmission frequencies of informative alleles, and gene copy numbers in parents reveal an ancient octoploid origin for white sturgeon. Comparison to the lake sturgeon genome suggests the similar to 250 chromosome state in sturgeon was achieved by multiple independent polyploid events. The discovery of spontaneous autopolyploids via microsatellite analysis and flow cytometry provides additional evidence of the plasticity of highly duplicated sturgeon genomes.