Geographical survey of protein variations in wild populations of Japanese house mouse, Mus musculus molossinus.

Abstract

An electrophoretic survey of 10 genetic loci, Es-1, Es-2, Es-5, Es-6, Amy-1, Amy-2, Prt-1, Prt-2, Mod-1 and Trf was carried out in wild populations of the Japanese house mouse. All loci except Trf were polymorphic and 2 distribution patterns were observed in several alleles. Es-2a, Es-2b, Amy-1a and Prt-1a were distributed more frequently in the peripheral regions as well as Hbbd and Es-5b was found in the southern regions as well as Id-1a and Id-1c. Calculation of genetic distance on 12 loci demonstrated 3 regional groups, Hokkaido, Mainland and Southern, consistent with the multiple migration hypothesis. The genetic distance between Japanese and Western Hemisphere and their allelic composition was compared. Japanese mouse is probably closely related to M. m. musculus and remotely related to 3 other Mus populations, M. m. domesticus, M. m. brevirostris and Mus spretus. The Japanese mouse seems to belong to a unique Mus musculus subspecies, M. m. molossinus.