Historic hybridization and persistence of a novel mito-nuclear combination in red-backed voles (genus Myodes).

ABSTRACT:

Background

The role of hybridization in generating diversity in animals is an active area of discovery and debate. We assess hybridization across a contact zone of northern (Myodes rutilus) and southern (M. gapperi) red-backed voles using variation in skeletal features and both mitochondrial and nuclear loci. This transect extends approximately 550 km along the North Pacific Coast of North America and encompasses 26 populations (n = 485). We establish the history, geographic extent and directionality of hybridization, determine whether hybridization is ongoing, and assess the evolutionary stability of novel genomic combinations.

Results

Identification of M. rutilus and M. gapperi based on the degree of closure of the post-palatal bridge was concordant with the distribution o

SUBMITTER: Runck AM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2697987 | biostudies-literature | 2009 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature