Abstract.
Allelic diversity has been examined from a variety of Mus musculus subspecies and Mus spretus strains by sequencing at a 453-bp unique sequence locus. One M. m. domesticus classic inbred strain, C57BL/KsJ, contained a sequence identical to that in the M. spretus wild-derived inbred strain SEG, and other wild M. spretus isolates. Such a result should have been precluded by the expected divergence between the species unless there has been interspecies gene flow. Examination of C57BL/KsJ for M. spretus-specific repetitive sequences shows that it is neither a mis-identified spretus strain nor a domesticus/spretus hybrid. Thus, in addition to the previously reported presence of small amounts of Mus spretus-specific repetitive DNA in M. m. domesticus, there is a detectable flow of unique sequence between the two species. There was also ancestral polymorphism observed among the spretus alleles. The difficulty of distinguishing ancestral polymorphism from horizontal transfer is discussed.
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Received: 14 May 1999 / Accepted: 5 November 1999
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Greene-Till, R., Zhao, Y. & Hardies, S. Gene flow of unique sequences between Mus musculus domesticus and Mus spretus . Mammalian Genome 11, 225–230 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/s003350010041
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s003350010041