Gene flow of unique sequences between Mus musculus domesticus and Mus spretus.
Allelic diversity has been examined from a variety of Mus musculus subspecies and Mus spretus strains by sequencing at a 453-bp unique sequence locus. One M. m. domesticus classic inbred strain, C57BL/KsJ, contained a sequence identical to that in the M. spretus wild-derived inbred strain SEG, and other wild M. spretus isolates. Such a result should have been precluded by the expected divergence between the species unless there has been interspecies gene flow. Examination of C57BL/KsJ for M. spretus-specific repetitive sequences shows that it is neither a mis-identified spretus strain nor a domesticus/spretus hybrid. Thus, in addition to the previously reported presence of small amounts of Mus spretus-specific repetitive DNA in M. m. domesticus, there is a detectable flow of unique sequence between the two species. There was also ancestral polymorphism observed among the spretus alleles. The difficulty of distinguishing ancestral polymorphism from horizontal transfer is discussed.
Greene-Till
R
R
Department of Biochemistry, University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio 78284-7760, USA.
Zhao
Y
Y
Hardies
S C
SC
D000483:Alleles; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D014644:Genetic Variation; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008808:Mice, Inbred CBA; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009115:Muridae; D010802:Phylogeny; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013045:Species Specificity
D004247:DNA