Mus Musculus Castaneus

M u s s p r e t u s 1261 which may give a more faithful image of the diversity available in Mus musculus, and provide useful variants for genetic analyses (Avner et al., 1988). For example, the centric fusions from domesticus chromosomal races have been convenient centromeric markers in genetic mapping experiments, and other contributions of these new wild-derived sources of variability are now commonplace in mammalian genetics.

References

Auffray J-C, Vanlerberghe F and Britton-Davidian J (1990) The house mouse progression in Eurasia: a palaeontological and archaeozoological approach. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 41: 13±25. Avner P, Amar L, Dandolo L and GueÂnet JL (1988) Genetic analysis of the mouse using interspecific crosses. Trends in Genetics 4: 18±23. Berry RJ and Corti M (eds) (1990) Proceedings of the Mus symposium at Vth I.T.C. (Rome 1989). Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 41: 1±303. Boursot P, Auffray J-C, Britton-Davidian J and Bonhomme F (1993) The evolution of house mice. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 24: 119±152. Boursot P, Din W, Anand R et al. (1996) Origin and radiation of the house mouse: mitochondrial DNA phylogeny. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 9: 391±415. Din W, Anand R, Boursot P et al. (1996) Origin and radiation of the house mouse: clues from nuclear genes. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 9: 519±539. Marshall JT (1998) Identification and Scientific Names of Eurasian House Mice and their European Allies, Subgenus Mus (Rodentia: Muridae). Springfield, VA: Kinko. Prager EM, Orrego C and Sage RD (1998) Genetic variation and phylogeography of central Asian and other house mice, including a major new mitochondrial lineage in Yemen. Genetics 150: 835±861. Yonekawa H, Moriwaki K, Gotoh O et al. (1988) Hybrid origin of Japanese mice `Mus musculus molossinus': evidence from restriction analysis of mitochondrial DNA. Molecular Biology and Evolution 5: 63±78.

strains of mice (M. m. domesticus), and the divergence between the two strains can be used efficiently for linkage analysis and mapping studies. See also: Hybrid Zone, Mouse; Mus musculus

Mus spretus F Bonhomme Copyright ß 2001 Academic Press doi: 10.1006/rwgn.2001.0863

Mus spretus Lataste, known as the western Mediterranean short-tailed mouse (or Aboriginal or grassland or Algerian mouse), belongs to the youngest clade of the subgenus Mus, which also encompasses the house mouse (M. musculus) and its subspecies, and the other two Palearctic short-tailed mice M. spicilegus (Petenyi) and M. macedonicus (Ruzov). The range of M. spretus is limited to the Mediterranean climatic zone of France, Spain, and North Africa, as well as the Atlantic coast of Morocco and Portugal (Figure 1). It was not before the advent of protein electrophonesis that its status as a species distinct from M. musculus was firmly established (Britton et al., 1976). M. spretus seems to be more droughttolerant than M. musculus domesticus, the subspecies with which it is sympatric, and it is an ecological competitor of feral populations of this subspecies in those places where there is enough water to support both. On the other hand, it seldom enters houses, so it is common to find situations where one species occupies the cellar while the other lives in the garden. The behavioral and physiological bases of this ecological differentiation has been the subject of a

See also: Hybrid Zone, Mouse; Inbred Strain; Mouse

Mus musculus castaneus L Silver Copyright ß 2001 Academic Press doi: 10.1006/rwgn.2001.0861

Mus musculus castaneus is a subspecies within the M. musculus group of house mice with a natural range across parts of China and Southeast Asia. M. m. castaneus animals breed readily with traditional inbred

Figure 1 Distribution of Mus spretus around the Mediterranean (hatched). (After Gray and Hurst, 1997.)