The diverse origins of New Zealand house mice

• Published in: Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
• Main Authors: Searle, Jeremy B., Jamieson, Paul M., Gunduz, Islam, Stevens, Mark I., Jones, Eleanor P., Gemmill, Chrissen E. C., King, Carolyn M.
• Other Authors: OMÜ
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Royal Soc 2009
• Subjects: D-loop; hybridization; mitochondrial DNA; morphology; Mus musculus; phylogeography; Jeremy; New Zealand; Searle; Macquarie Island
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12712/18814; https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2008.0959

Gemmill, Chrissen E C/0000-0002-1704-9893; King, Carolyn M/0000-0001-6048-8931; Searle, Jeremy/0000-0001-7710-5204; Gunduz, Islam/0000-0002-6436-5397 WOS: 000262005200004 PubMed: 18826937 Molecular markers and morphological characters can help infer the colonization history of organisms. A combination of mitochondrial (mt) D-loop DNA sequences, nuclear DNA data, external measurements and skull characteristics shows that house mice (Mus musculus) in New Zealand and its outlying islands are descended from very diverse sources. The predominant genome is Mus musculus domesticus (from western Europe), but Mus musculus musculus (from central Europe) and Mus musculus castaneus (from southern Asia) are also represented genetically. These subspecies have hybridized to produce combinations of musculus and domesticus nuclear DNA coupled with domesticus mtDNA, and castaneus or musculus mtDNA with domesticus nuclear DNA. The majority of the mice with domesticus mtDNA that we sampled had D-loop sequences identical to two haplotypes common in Britain. This is consistent with long-term British New Zealand cultural linkages. The origins of the castaneus mtDNA sequences widespread in New Zealand are less easy to identify. Universities of Waikato and York; Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK)Turkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Arastirma Kurumu (TUBITAK); Microsoft Corporation We are extremely grateful to Kath Walker, Graeme Taylor and Alex McKillop for collecting mice from the offshore islands, to Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service ( Keith Springer) for the Macquarie Island specimens and to Pavel Munclinger for his advice and preliminary typing with nuclear markers. We also thank Alec Zwart for statistical help, Rhys Richards for advice on maritime history, Jaroslav Pialek and Francois Catzeflis for provision of samples of known subspecies, Frioa Johannesdottir for drawing the trees and commenting on the manuscript, and Max Oulton for drawing the map. Funding was provided by the Universities of ...