title: Low diversity of t haplotypes in the eastern form of the house mouse, Mus musculus L.
abstract: In previous studies, 13 different recessive embryonic lethal genes have been associated with t haplotypes in the wild mice of the species Mus domesticus. In this communication we have analyzed five populations of Mus musculus for the presence and identity of t haplotypes. The populations occupy geographically distant regions in the Soviet Union: Altai Mountains, western and eastern Siberia, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. No t haplotypes were found in mice from eastern Siberia. In the remaining four populations, t haplotypes occurred with frequencies ranging from 0.07 to 0.21. All the t haplotypes extracted from these populations and analyzed by the genetic complementation test were shown to carry the same lethal gene tcl-w73. In one population (that of western Siberia), another lethal gene (tcl-w5) was found to be present on the same chromosome as tcl-w73. This situation is in striking contrast to that found in the populations of the western form of the house mouse, M. domesticus. In the latter species, tcl-w73 has not been found at all and the different populations are characterized by the presence of several different lethal genes. The low diversity of t haplotypes in M. musculus is consistent with lower genetic variability of other traits and indicates a different origin and speciation mode compared to M. domesticus. Serological typing for H-2 antigenic determinants suggests that most, if not all, of the newly described t haplotypes might have arisen by recombination of tw73 from M. musculus with t haplotypes from M. domesticus either in the hybrid zone between the two species or in regions where the two species mixed accidentally.
authors.affiliation: Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Siberian Branch, Institute of Cytology and Genetics, Novosibirsk.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ruvinsky
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Polyakov
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Agulnik
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tichy
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Figueroa
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Klein
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000835:Animals, Wild / Q000235:genetics; D003433:Crosses, Genetic; D005787:Gene Frequency; D005816:Genetic Complementation Test; D006183:H-2 Antigens / Q000276:immunology; D006239:Haplotypes / Q000235:genetics*; D051379:Mice / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D014586:USSR
chemical_list: D006183:H-2 Antigens