Phylogeography, seleciton and ...

Phylogeography, seleciton and mutation rate at genomic level: Inference from mtDNA sequences of the house mouse (2016-2018)

Investigator: prom. biol. Jaroslav Piálek, CSc.
Number of Project: 16-23773S
Agency: Czech Science Foundation
Duration: 01. 01. 2016 - 31. 12. 2018

 Mitochondrial DNA has widely been used for species detection and delimitation. However, the house mouse mitochondrion has been shown to violate basic assumptions, bringing some notable results into question. Using the European house mouse hybrid zone (HMHZ) as a model system and taking advantage of state-of-the-art NGS techniques this project aims to decipher several riddles of mtDNA evolution. Phylogeography and colonisation history of mtDNA haplotypes, their introgression across the HMHZ, rate of heteroplasmy, mutation rate, the role of selection, and phenotypic correlates will be addressed. More specifically: How many haplotypes encounter the HMHZ? Which of them are able to introgress across, which are susceptible to invasion? Is the rate of heteroplasmy affected by hybridisation, mutation rate differences between functional vs non-coding mtDNA regions or is it lineage-specific?