Dissertation Research: The Genetic Basis of Reproductive Isolation: A Study of the European Mus Hybrid Zone

[00:73090]新物种形成的遗传基础是进化生物学中的一个基本问题。在这项研究中，两种近亲家鼠（家鼠和家鼠）之间的欧洲杂交区将用于定位可能涉及生殖隔离的基因组区域。将对254个人的15个DNA标记进行基因分型，这些标记沿着X染色体等距排列。这些标记的变异模式将用于鉴定导致生殖隔离的染色体区域。家鼠系统具有模式生物的所有遗传工具，并提供了利用自然杂交种群识别可能在物种形成中起作用的基因的第一次机会之一。这个项目有望增加我们对物种形成过程的遗传学的理解。这个目标之所以重要，有两个原因。首先，物种形成是生物学家在理论和经验上都非常感兴趣的话题。由于自然种群之间的生殖隔离一定是遗传的，物种形成才会发生，因此发现相关基因的数量和种类是至关重要的。其次，物种形成研究有助于理解生物多样性的整体起源。物种形成过程的遗传细节提供了关于生物多样化的特征和时间的信息。

0073090Nachman & PayseurThe genetic basis of the formation of new species is a fundamental problem in evolutionary biology. In this study, a European hybrid zone between two closely related species of house mice (Mus domesticus and M. musculus) will be used to locate genomic regions potentially involved in reproductive isolation. Fifteen DNA markers, equally spaced along the X chromosome, will be genotyped in 254 individuals. Patterns of variation at these markers will be used to identify chromosomal regions that cause reproductive isolation. The house mouse system features all the genetic tools of a model organism and provides one of the first opportunities to identify genes that may play a role in speciation using naturally hybridizing populations.This project promises to increase our understanding of the genetics of the speciation process. This goal is important for two reasons. First, speciation is a topic of intense theoretical and empirical interest among biologists. Because the reproductive isolation between natural populations must be genetic for speciation to occur, discovering the number and kind of genes involved is crucial. Second, speciation studies contribute to an understanding of the overall genesis of biodiversity. The genetic details of the speciation process provide information on the characteristics and timing of biological diversification.