The polyphyletic origin of laboratory inbred mice and their rate of evolution |
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Authors: | Franç ois Bonhomme,Jean-Louis Guenet,Barbara Dod,Kazuo Moriwaki,Grahame Bulfield |
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Affiliation: | Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution, C.N.R.S. UA 327, Universitéde Montpellier, 34060, France;Institut Pasteur, 75015, Paris, France;C.R.B.M., C.N.R.S. LP8402, INSERMU 249, rte de Mende, 34000 Montpellier, France;National Institute of Genetics, Mishima Sizuoka-ken 411, Japan;Gene Expression Group, AFRC Institute of Animal Physiology &Genetics Research, Roslin, Midlothian, EH25 9PS |
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Abstract: | The analysis of various genetic components in the standard inbred laboratory strains of mice shows that several taxonomic units of the complex species Mus musculus have contributed to their genetic background. These laboratory lines are often taken as archetypes of the mammalian genome and since their genealogy is known for around 80 years they have been used to estimate mutation rates and various other evolutionary parameters. The knowledge of their origins is important if one is to avoid erroneous interpretations. Do they possess haplotypes that could have existed in natural populations of M. musculus domesticus or are they the fruit of artificial recombinations between divergent genomes? We discuss this in the light of various genetic systems. |
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Keywords: | evolutionary rates inbred mice reticulate evolution |
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