title: Development of unique house mouse resources suitable for evolutionary studies of speciation.
abstract: Two house mouse subspecies, Mus musculus domesticus and Mus musculus musculus, form a hybrid zone in Europe and represent a suitable model for inferring the genes contributing to isolation barriers between parental taxa. Despite long-term intensive studies of this hybrid zone, we still know relatively little about the causes and mechanisms maintaining the 2 taxa as separate subspecies; therefore, to gain insight into this process, we developed 8 wild-derived inbred house mouse strains. In order to produce strains as pure domesticus or musculus genomes as possible, the individuals used to establish the breeding colony for the 3 domesticus and 2 of the musculus strains were captured in the Czech Republic from wild populations at extreme western and eastern edges of the subspecific contact zone, respectively. The remaining 3 musculus strains were bred from mice captured about 250 km east of the hybrid zone. Genetic analysis based on 361 microsatellite loci showed that 82% of these markers are diagnostic for either the musculus or the domesticus strains. In order to demonstrate the potential utility of this genetic differentiation in such strains, phenotypic variation was scored for 2 strains from opposite edges of the hybrid zone and significant differences in morphology, reproductive performance, in vitro immune responses, mate choice based on urinary signals, and aggressiveness were found. In addition, the 3 strains derived from musculus populations far from the hybrid zone display significant differences in polymorphism in hybrid male sterility when crossed with the laboratory strains C57BL/6 or C57BL/10, which have a predominantly domesticus genome. Although further studies will be necessary to demonstrate intersubspecific differences, all analyses presented here indicate that these newly developed house mouse strains represent a powerful tool for elucidating the genetic basis of isolation barriers in hybrid zones and for studying speciation in general.
authors.affiliation: Department of Population Biology, Institute of Vertebrate Biology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, CZ-675 02 Studenec 122, Czech Republic. jpialek@brno.cas.cz
authors.forename: Jaroslav
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Piálek
authors.forename: Martina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vyskocilová
authors.forename: Barbora
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bímová
authors.forename: Dana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Havelková
authors.forename: Jana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Piálková
authors.forename: Petra
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dufková
authors.forename: Vera
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Bencová
authors.forename: L'udovít
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dureje
authors.forename: Tomás
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Albrecht
authors.forename: Heidi C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Hauffe
authors.forename: Milos
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Macholán
authors.forename: Pavel
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Munclinger
authors.forename: Radka
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Storchová
authors.forename: Alena
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zajícová
authors.forename: Vladimír
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Holán
authors.forename: Sona
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gregorová
authors.forename: Jirí
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Forejt
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D049810:Genetic Speciation; D005828:Genetics, Population; D016678:Genome; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008805:Mice, Inbred A; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic