Numerous mitochondrial DNA haplotypes reveal multiple independent polyploidy origins of hexaploids in Carassius species complex.

Evolutionary trajectory and occurrence history of polyploidy have been extensively studied in plants, but they remain quite elusive in vertebrates. Here, we sampled and gathered 4,159 specimens of polyploid Carassius species complex including 1,336 tetraploids and 2,823 hexaploids from a large geographic scale (49 localities) across East Asia, and identified a huge number of 427 diverse haplotypes of mitochondrial control region, in which 74 haplotypes with total occurrence frequency up to 75.498% were shared by hexaploids and tetraploids. Significantly, these diverse haplotypes were clustered into four major lineages, and many haplotypes of hexaploids and tetraploids were intermixed in every lineage. Moreover, the evolutionary trajectory and occurrence history of four different lineages were revealed by a simplified time-calibrated phylogenetic tree, and their geographic distribution frequencies and haplotype diversity were also analyzed. Furthermore, lineage C and D were revealed to undergo population expansion throughout mainland China. Therefore, our current data indicate that hexaploids should undergo multiple independent polyploidy origins from sympatric tetraploids in the polyploid Carassius species complex across East Asia.