Genetic structure and differentiation during speciation in fossorial gerbil rodents

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Allozymic variation in proteins encoded by 27 gene loci was analyzed electrophoretically in 135 adult gerbil rodents from Israel, representing 3 populations of Gerbillus allenbyi, and 2 populations of G. pyramidum, one belonging to the Northern Chromosomal Race (2n = 50-52), the other to the Southern Chromosomal Race (2n = 64-66). The 2 striking features of the genetic structure of these gerbils are: extremely low genetic diversity indexed by mean number of alleles per locus, A = 1.111, mean proportion of loci heterozygous per individual, H = 0.005 .+-. 0.002, and relatively low or almost no genetic distance between recently evolving species and chromosomal races. The level of genetic diversity in the gerbils studied is best explained by the niche-width variation model as homoselection in the relatively constant and narrow subterranean niche. Speciation in this case was associated with only a minor change in the structural genes tested.

This publication has 2 references indexed in Scilit: