Genetic structure of the white-footed mouse in the context of the emergence of Lyme disease in southern Quebec.

ABSTRACT: The white-footed mouse (Peromyscus leucopus) has expanded its northern limit into southern Québec over the last few decades. P. leucopus is a great disperser and colonizer and is of particular interest because it is considered a primary reservoir for the spirochete bacterium that causes Lyme disease. There is no current information on the gene flow between mouse populations on the mountains and forest fragments found scattered throughout the Montérégie region in southern Québec, and whether various landscape barriers have an effect on their dispersal. We conducted a population genetics analysis on eleven P. leucopus populations using eleven microsatellite markers and showed that isolation by distance was weak, yet barriers were effective. The agricultural matrix had the least effect on gen

SUBMITTER: Rogic A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3728948 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature