Collaborative Research on the Genetic Basis of Reproductive Isolation in House Mice

地球上估计有900多万种物种，了解有助于物种形成的生态和遗传因素是生物科学的核心问题。 虽然半个世纪以来对物种形成的遗传基础的研究已经揭示了一些普遍的见解，但只有少数有助于物种形成的基因被确定;因此，许多问题仍然存在。 例如，什么样的基因参与了物种形成？ 是只有少数基因起主要作用，还是有许多基因起次要作用？ 这些问题将通过研究在自然发生的杂交种群的两个遗传特征良好的家鼠种，小家鼠和小家鼠，并通过功能分析它们之间的实验室杂交的大量分子标记的基因流来解决。 这项研究的目标是确定家鼠物种形成基因的数量和生物学功能的特征，捷克共和国和日本的博士后研究人员、研究生和本科生以及科学家将参与这项研究。 家鼠是重要的生物医学模型，在这个项目中发现的许多物种形成基因可能会揭示人类生殖和生存中重要的基因。

With over 9 million species estimated to exist on Earth, understanding the factors, both ecological and genetic, that contribute to species formation is a central problem in the biological sciences. While a half-century of research on the genetic basis of speciation has revealed some general insights, only a handful of genes contributing to speciation have been identified; thus, many questions remain. For example, what kinds of genes are involved in speciation? Are there few genes of major effect or many genes of small effect? These questions will be addressed by studying gene flow across a larger number of molecular markers in naturally occurring hybrid populations of two genetically well characterized house mouse species, Mus musculus and Mus domesticus, and through functional analyses of laboratory crosses between them. The goals of the research are to identify the number and characterize the biological function of genes contributing to speciation in house mice.The research will involve the participation of postdoctoral researchers, graduate and undergraduate students and scientists in both the Czech Republic and Japan. House mice are important biomedical models and many of the speciation genes identified in this project are likely to shed light on genes important in reproduction and survival in humans.