Genetic variation of wild mouse populations in southern Germany: II. Serological study

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Abstract
SUMMARY: A total of 207 wild mice trapped at different localities in southern Germany were tested for the presence of antigenic determinants controlled by class I genes (K and D) of the H-2 complex. The test was based on the complement-dependent killing of lymphocytes in the micro-cytotoxicity assay. Both private (allele-specific) and public (shared) determinants were tested using polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies. The results of the H-2 typing were in agreement with karyological typing which divided the sampled mice into 5 populations. Each population was characterized by a certain antigenic profile (occurrence of individual determinants at certain frequencies); the profiles of the individual populations were sufficiently unique to differentiate these populations but at the same time sufficiently similar to indicate common origin of the populations. The karyological typing of the same mice reveals that all 5 populations share 1 pair of metacentric chromosomes, Rb(4.12)1Tu, but that, in addition, each population has at least one metacentric chromosome differentiating it from other populations. We interpret these findings as evidence that all wild mice in southern Germany stem from a common stock in which the Rb(4.12)1Tu translocation became fixed and which subsequently differentiated into the individual populations. This differentiation is accompanied by the fixation of new Robertsonian translocations (different ones in different populations) and the acquisition of characteristic H-2 antigenic profiles.