The tobacco mouse and its relatives: a "tail" of coat colors, chromosomes, hybridization and speciation

Cytogenetic and Genome Research
H C HauffeJ B Searle

Abstract

The article reviews over 30 years' study of the chromosomal variation of the western house mice (Mus musculus domesticus) from the neighboring valleys of Poschiavo and Valtellina on the Swiss-Italian border. This is done in the context of the social and political history of this area, on the grounds that mice, as commensals, are influenced by human history. The chromosomal study of mice in this area was initiated because their unusual black coat color led a 19th century naturalist to describe the "tobacco mice" from Val Poschiavo as a separate species (Mus poschiavinus). The special coloration of the Val Poschiavo mice is matched by their chromosomes: they have 26 chromosomes instead of the usual 40. The Val Poschiavo mice are not a separate species according to the Biological Species Concept; instead they constitute a chromosome race (the "Poschiavo", POS) that is related to other races with reduced chromosome numbers that occur in N Italy (of which only those races in Val Poschiavo and Upper Valtellina have black coats). A phylogenetic analysis of mitochondrial DNA sequences suggests that the lineage of chromosome races found in N Italy was not formed during an extreme population bottleneck, although such bottlenecks have app...Continue Reading

Citations

Sep 1, 2005·Chromosome Research : an International Journal on the Molecular, Supramolecular and Evolutionary Aspects of Chromosome Biology·Jirí FajkusAndrew R Leitch
Mar 1, 2003·Analytical Sciences : the International Journal of the Japan Society for Analytical Chemistry·Sibel SaracogluLatif Elci
Apr 27, 2013·Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution·Mabel D GiménezJeremy B Searle
Apr 7, 2016·Chromosome Research : an International Journal on the Molecular, Supramolecular and Evolutionary Aspects of Chromosome Biology·Daniel W FörsterJeremy B Searle
Oct 13, 2016·The Journal of Heredity·Mabel D GiménezHeidi C Hauffe
Jun 12, 2016·Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution·Mabel D GiménezJeremy B Searle

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