Genetic Diversity of Western Caucasus Red Deer (Cervus elaphus Linnaeus, 1758) Based on Cytochrome b Gene Study

The analysis of polymorphism of the cytochrome b gene (1140 bp) of mtDNA of 20 Cervus elaphus samples from the Caucasian Reserve was carried out. The described haplotypes were included in three haplogroups, two of which belong to the western and one to the eastern lineages. Among the western lineage, a haplotype was identified that, together with ancient haplotypes from Greece, Krasnodar Krai and postglacial samples from Crimea, forms a haplogroup distanced from other haplogroups of the western lineage. The age of this haplogroup is about 28–37 thousand years with a mutation rate of 5.14% per million years. The approximate age of the haplogroup of the Asian lineage, which included one of the samples, is 23–30 thousand years with the same mutation rate. Based on the results obtained, it can be preliminarily concluded that in the Caucasus, in particular in the Western Caucasus, more than 20 thousand years ago, representatives of both lines—western and eastern—lived symbiotopically, at least in the late (upper) Pleistocene.