The wildcat (Felis lybica/Felis silvestris) is widely distributed in Africa and Eurasia. Iran is situated at the intersection of the distributions of the European Wildcat F. silvestris with the African Wildcat F. lybica. The genetic relationships of the Iranian wildcat population with either group remain unclear. We examined sequence variation of 1,140 bp of mitochondrial DNA cytochrome b gene from 23 wildcat samples collected across Iran. The analyses revealed two subclades, of which one is related to the Asian Wildcat (F. lybica ornata) and the other to the African Wildcat (F. lybica lybica) and the Domestic Cat (F. catus). Sixteen closely related haplotypes were identified for the entire country, with two geographically distinct subclades for western and eastern Zagros Mountain Range and overlapping in some localities. The analyses of fixation index (FST) and molecular variance (AMOVA) demonstrated significant genetic structuring among the two subclades(FST=0.63). Analysis of mismatch distribution and multimodal graph indicated that the Iranian wildcat population is in a condition of demographic equilibrium.

中文翻译：

---

线粒体细胞色素 b 基因揭示的伊朗野猫 (Felis lybica / Felis silvestris) 的系统地理学分析

野猫（Felis lybica/Felis silvestris）广泛分布于非洲和欧亚大陆。伊朗位于欧洲野猫 F. silvestris 与非洲野猫 F. lybica 分布的交汇处。伊朗野猫种群与任一组的遗传关系仍不清楚。我们检查了来自伊朗各地收集的 23 个野猫样本的线粒体 DNA 细胞色素 b 基因的 1,140 bp 序列变异。分析揭示了两个分支，其中一个与亚洲野猫 (F. lybica ornata) 有关，另一个与非洲野猫 (F. lybica lybica) 和家猫 (F. catus) 有关。为整个国家确定了 16 个密切相关的单倍型，在扎格罗斯山脉西部和东部有两个地理上不同的分支，并在一些地方重叠。固定指数（FST）和分子方差（AMOVA）的分析表明，两个亚支之间存在显着的遗传结构（FST=0.63）。错配分布和多模态图分析表明，伊朗野猫种群处于人口均衡状态。