House mouse colonization patterns on the sub-Antarctic Kerguelen Archipelago suggest singular primary invasions and resilience against re-invasion
Date
2010-10
Authors
Hardouin, Emilie A.
Chapuis, Jean-Louis
Stevens, Mark I.
Van Vuuren, Jansen Bettine
Quillfeldt, Petra
Scavetta, Rick J.
Teschke, Meike
Tautz, Diethard
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
BioMed Central
Abstract
Background: Starting from Western Europe, the house mouse (Mus musculus domesticus) has spread across the globe in historic times. However, most oceanic islands were colonized by mice only within the past 300 years. This makes them an excellent model for studying the evolutionary processes during early stages of new colonization. We have focused here on the Kerguelen Archipelago, located within the sub-Antarctic area and compare the patterns with samples from other Southern Ocean islands. Results: We have typed 18 autosomal and six Y-chromosomal microsatellite loci and obtained mitochondrial D-loop sequences for a total of 534 samples, mainly from the Kerguelen Archipelago, but also from the Falkland Islands, Marion Island, Amsterdam Island, Antipodes Island, Macquarie Island, Auckland Islands and one sample from South Georgia. We find that most of the mice on the Kerguelen Archipelago have the same mitochondrial haplotype and all share the same major Y-chromosomal haplotype. Two small islands (Cochons Island and Cimetière Island) within the archipelago show a different mitochondrial haplotype, are genetically distinct for autosomal loci, but share the major Y-chromosomal haplotype. In the mitochondrial D-loop sequences, we find several single step mutational derivatives of one of the major mitochondrial haplotypes, suggesting an unusually high mutation rate, or the occurrence of selective sweeps in mitochondria. Conclusions: Although there was heavy ship traffic for over a hundred years to the Kerguelen Archipelago, it appears that the mice that have arrived first have colonized the main island (Grande Terre) and most of the associated small islands. The second invasion that we see in our data has occurred on islands that are detached from Grande Terre and were likely to have had no resident mice prior to their arrival. The genetic data suggest that the mice of both primary invasions originated from related source populations. Our data suggest that an area colonized by mice is refractory to further introgression, possibly due to fast adaptations of the resident mice to local conditions.
Description
Includes bibliography.
Keywords
Mus musculus domesticus, Mice -- Evolution, Kerguelen Archipelago, Mice -- Colonization -- Kerguelen Islands, House mouse
Citation
Hardouin, E.A., Chapuis, J.-L., Stevens, M.I., Van Vuuren, J.B., Quillfeldt, P., Scavetta, R.J., Teschke, M. & Tautz, D. 2010. House mouse colonization patterns on the sub-Antarctic Kerguelen Archipelago suggest singular primary invasions and resilience against re-invasion. BMC Evolutionary Biology, 10(1):325.