title: Molecular phylogenetics of the genus Gerbillus (Rodentia, Gerbillinae): Implications for systematics, taxonomy and chromosomal evolution.
abstract: Although gerbils forms an important component of the mammalian fauna of arid and semi-arid area, the taxonomic and phylogenetic relationship within the species of the genus Gerbillus are still ambiguous. The present paper introduces findings based on the whole cytochrome b (1140 bp) mitochondrial genes of seven species (Gerbillus campestris, G. latastei, G. nanus, G. tarabuli, G. gerbillus, G. simoni and G. nigeriae) six of which are present in Tunisia. Our results show that all the Gerbillus species are monophyletic. Moreover, molecular phylogeny rejects the genus rank for the taxon Dipodillus. Gebillus nanus, a species belonging to the subgenus Hendecapleura, early diverged from the other species which are divided into two clades: the subgenus Dipodillus, including G. campestris and G. simoni and the subgenus Gerbillus including G. gerbillus, G. nigeriae, G. tarabuli and G. latastei. These results are congruent with morphological and karyological evidences. According to molecular clock, the appearance of the genus Gerbillus coincides with the Miocene-Pliocene expansion of African arid biomes. Extensive intraspecific chromosomal changes evolved in a relatively narrow lapse of time, like in the case of G. latastei, allowing the fixations of different chromosomal variants due to pericentric inversion.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire d'Ecologie Animale, Faculté des Sciences de Tunis, FST Départment Biologie, Campus Universitaire, 2092 El Manar Tunis, Tunisia. abiadhawatef@yahoo.fr
authors.forename: Awatef
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Abiadh
authors.forename: M'barek
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chetoui
authors.forename: Taher
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lamine-Cheniti
authors.forename: Ernesto
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Capanna
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Colangelo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D045303:Cytochromes b / Q000235:genetics; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D050259:Genes, Mitochondrial; D005849:Gerbillinae / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013045:Species Specificity; D014416:Tunisia
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D045303:Cytochromes b