Development of unique house mouse resources suitable for evolutionary studies of speciation

Abstract

Two house mouse subspecies, Mus musculus domesticus and Mus musculus musculus, form a hybrid zone in Europe and represent a suitable model for inferring the genes contributing to isolation barriers between parental taxa. We developed 8 wild-derived inbred house mouse strains that represent a powerful tool for elucidating the genetic basis of isolation barriers in hybrid zones and for studying speciation in general.

Keywords

• androgen-binding protein
• mus-musculus-domesticus
• quantitative trait loci
• hybrid zone
• mitochondrial-dna
• reproductive isolation
• genetic-variation
• laboratory mouse
• sexual isolation
• inbred strains