Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 1981 Aug;98(4):801-16.
doi: 10.1093/genetics/98.4.801.

Evolutionary relationships among five subspecies of Mus musculus based on restriction enzyme cleavage patterns of mitochondrial DNA

H Yonekawa, K Moriwaki, O Gotoh, J I Hayashi, J Watanabe, N Miyashita, M L Petras, Y Tagashira

Evolutionary relationships among five subspecies of Mus musculus based on restriction enzyme cleavage patterns of mitochondrial DNA

H Yonekawa et al. Genetics. 1981 Aug.

Abstract

The intra- and intersubspecific genetic distances between five subspecies of Mus musculus were estimated from restriction enzyme cleavage patterns of maps of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). The European subspecies, M. m. domesticus and Asian subspecies, M. m. bactrianus, M. m. castaneus, M. m. molossinus and M. m. urbanus were examined. For each subspecies, except M. m. urbanus, at least two local races from widely separated localities were examined. Intrasubspecific heterogeneity was found in the mtDNA cleavage patterns of M. m. bactrianus and M. m. castaneus. M. m. molossinus and M. m. domesticus, however, revealed no intrasubspecific heterogeneity. Four of the subspecies had distinct cleavage patterns. The fifth, M. m. urbanus, had cleavage patterns identical to those of M. m. castaneus with several enzymes. Estimates of genetic distances between the various races and subspecies were obtained by comparing cleavage maps of the mtDNAs with various restriction enzymes. Nucleotide sequence divergences of mtDNA between local races were estimated to be less than 0.4% in M. m. bactrianus and less than 0.3% in M. m. castaneus. The times of divergence of both subspecies were calculated to be 0.1--0.2 x 10(6) years. These values suggest that the intrasubspecific divergence began some 0.1--0.2 x 10(6) years ago. On the other hand, nucleotide sequence divergences between European subspecies M. m. domesticus and Asian subspecies M. m. bactrianus and M. m. castaneus were 7.1% ane 5.8%, respectively. The times of divergence were calculated to be 2.1--2.6 x 10(6) years. Further, the nucleotide sequence divergence and time of divergence between M. m. molossinus and the other two Asian subspecies were comparable to those between M. m. molossinus and M. m. domesticus (about 3% and 1 x 10(6) years, respectively). These results suggest that M. m. molossinus is situated in a unique evolutionary position among Asian subspecies.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Genetics. 1969 Nov;63(3):653-67 - PubMed
    1. Cancer Res. 1976 Dec;36(12):4333-77 - PubMed
    1. Cell. 1977 Jul;11(3):571-83 - PubMed
    1. Nucleic Acids Res. 1977;4(5):1273-89 - PubMed
    1. Nucleic Acids Res. 1977;4(5):1291-9 - PubMed