Evolutionary and dispersal history of Eurasian wild mice Mus musculus clarified by more extensive geographic sampling of mitochondrial DNA

We examined sequence variation of mitochondrial DNA control region and cytochrome b gene of the house mouse (Mus musculus sensu lato) drawn from ca. 200 localities, with 290 new samples drawn primarily from previously unsampled portions of their Eurasian distribution and with the objective of further clarifying evolutionary episodes of this species before and after the onset of human-mediated long-distance dispersals. Phylogenetic analysis of the expanded data detected five equally distinct clades, with geographic ranges of northern Eurasia (musculus, MUS), India and Southeast Asia (castaneus, CAS), Nepal (unspecified), western Europe (domesticus, DOM), and Yemen (gentilulus). Our results confirm previous suggestions of Southwestern Asia as the likely place of origin of M. musculus and the region of Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and northern India, specifically as the ancestral homeland of CAS. The divergence of the subspecies lineages and of internal sublineage differentiation within CA...

本研究对采自约200个采样点位的家鼠（广义小家鼠，Mus musculus sensu lato）的线粒体DNA控制区（mitochondrial DNA control region）及细胞色素b基因（cytochrome b gene）的序列变异特征开展了分析；其中290份新样本主要采集自该物种欧亚分布范围内此前未被采样的区域，研究旨在进一步阐明该物种在人类介导的长距离扩散事件发生前后的演化历程。基于扩充后的数据集开展的系统发育分析（phylogenetic analysis）共识别出5个分化程度相当的支系（clades），各支系的地理分布范围分别为：欧亚大陆北部支系（musculus，缩写MUS）、印度与东南亚支系（castaneus，缩写CAS）、尼泊尔支系（未命名）、西欧支系（domesticus，缩写DOM）以及也门支系（gentilulus）。本研究结果证实了此前的相关假说：西南亚为广义小家鼠的潜在起源地，而伊朗、阿富汗、巴基斯坦与印度北部区域则为CAS支系的祖先起源区域。亚种支系的分化以及CAS支系内部的亚支系分化过程（原文未完整呈现）...