Mouse Biology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Monterotondo, Italy.
Genomics. 2010 Apr;95(4):196-202. doi: 10.1016/j.ygeno.2010.02.004. Epub 2010 Feb 18.
Laboratory mouse strains are known to have emerged from recent interbreeding between individuals of Mus musculus isolated populations. As a result of this breeding history, the collection of polymorphisms observed between laboratory mouse strains is likely to harbor the effects of natural selection between reproductively isolated populations. Until now no study has systematically investigated the consequences of this breeding history on gene evolution. Here we have used a novel, unbiased evolutionary approach to predict the founder origin of laboratory mouse strains and to assess the balance between ancient and newly emerged mutations in the founder subspecies. Our results confirm a contribution from at least four distinct subspecies. Additionally, our method allowed us to identify regions of relaxed selective constraint among laboratory mouse strains. This unique structure of variation is likely to have significant consequences on the use of mouse to find genes underlying phenotypic variation.
实验室小鼠品系是由不同地区的近交系 Mus musculus 个体杂交而来。由于这种繁殖历史，实验室小鼠品系之间观察到的多态性很可能包含了生殖隔离种群之间自然选择的影响。到目前为止，还没有研究系统地调查这种繁殖历史对基因进化的影响。在这里，我们使用了一种新颖的、无偏的进化方法来预测实验室小鼠品系的起源，并评估在原始亚种中新出现的突变与古老突变之间的平衡。我们的研究结果证实了至少有四个不同亚种的贡献。此外，我们的方法还允许我们确定实验室小鼠品系中放松选择约束的区域。这种独特的变异结构可能对利用小鼠寻找表型变异相关基因产生重大影响。
