Phylogenetic
Implications of mtDNA Sequence Variation in a Species of
| Sequence variation of a 1,439 base pair
region (ND3/ND4L/ND4) of the mitochondrial genome of Peromyscus sejugis, a species of deer mouse endemic to two islands
in the Sea of Cortez, was analyzed and compared to sequences of Peromyscus
maniculatus coolidgei from Baja California and to Peromyscus
keeni from the Pacific Northwest.
These sequences were compared in order to: test the genetic
relatedness of P. sejugis and P. m. coolidgei, resolve the geographic origin of P.
sejugis, and verify the apparent sister-group relationship between P.
sejugis and P. keeni.
Three haplotypes were obtained for P.
m. coolidgei with an overall sequence variation of 0.3%.
Two haplotypes were obtained for P.
sejugis with an overall sequence variation of 0.7%.
Genetic distance between P.
sejugis and P. m. coolidgei
was 1.7%. Phylogenetic and
pairwise distance analyses place P.
sejugis and P. m. coolidgei
in a group that associates more closely to P.
keeni than to central (WA. and CO.) P.
maniculatus. These data
support the conclusion that P.
sejugis is conspecific with, and is an island isolate of, what is
currently recognized as P. m.
coolidgei. Additionally,
the data support the geographically improbable sister-group relationship
between P. sejugis/P. m. coolidgei
and P. keeni and suggest that
the deer mice from Baja California are specifically distinct from
northern and centrally distributed populations of P.
maniculatus. |
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