title: Mitochondrial DNA variation along an altitudinal gradient in the greater white-toothed shrew, Crocidura russula.
abstract: The distribution of mitochondrial control region-sequence polymorphism was investigated in 15 populations of Crocidura russula along an altitudinal gradient in western Switzerland. High-altitude populations are smaller, sparser and appear to undergo frequent bottlenecks. Accordingly, they showed a loss of rare haplotypes, but unexpectedly, were less differentiated than lowland populations. Furthermore, the major haplotypes segregated significantly with altitude. The results were inconsistent with a simple model of drift and dispersal. They suggested instead a role for historical patterns of colonization, or, alternatively, present-day selective forces acting on one of the mitochondrial genes involved in metabolic pathways.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Ecology, University of Lausanne, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ehinger
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Fontanillas
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Petit
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Perrin
mesh_terms: D000531:Altitude; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006239:Haplotypes; D019901:Locus Control Region / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012788:Shrews / Q000235:genetics*; D013557:Switzerland
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial