Deer mice: “The Drosophila of North American mammalogy”

Abstract

A major benefit of the nearly completed human and laboratory mouse (Mus musculus) genome projects is the ready application of that information to nontraditional species. Now feasible is the application of detailed genetic approaches to the study of a broad range of species and problems heretofore impracticable (O'Brien et al., 1999). One such group is the deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus) and congeneric species (Fig. 1). Peromyscines are arguably the most abundant of the native North American mammals, ranging from Alaska to Central America and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. They occur in a wide range of habitats, including sealevel wetlands and beaches, forests, prairies, deserts, and mountains of elevations up to 14,000 feet. More than 100 years of Peromyscus research provides an ideal foundation for future genetic investigations studying those problems for which Peromyscus is ideally suited (King, 1968;Kirkland and Layne, 1989). Deer mice have been utilized in a wide range of disciplines including physiology and endocrinology, parasitology and epidemiology, evolution and systematics, toxicology, behavior, and ecology. Most recently the genus has attracted attention for its role as the primary carrier of Sin Nombre virus, responsible for the 1993 outbreak of hantaviral pulmonary syndrome in the Four Corners Area of the United States (Hjelle et al., 1995;Nichol et al., 1993), as well as serving as a host for the larval stage of the tick (Ixodes), which transmits the Lyme disease spirochaete (Borrelia). A few examples of Peromyscus biology amenable to genomic approaches are outlined below.Little is understood regarding the genetic changes that produce behavioral and physiological adaptation to the environment. Such information is key to understanding the mechanisms of evolutionary change. To address these questions numerous interfertile peromyscine species and subspecies representing diverse habitats are available and therefore amenable to genetic analysis. In the laboratory a particularly useful pair of species has been the prairie deer mouse P. maniculatus bairdii and the oldfield or beach mouse P. polionotus. These two species are interfertile and produce viable fertile offspring. P. maniculatus bairdii and P. polionotus differ markedly in their burrow structures, the latter constructing deep and elaborate burrows with entrance and escape tunnels, whereas the former construct simple and shallow burrows (Fig. 2) (Dawson et al., 1988). This behavioral distinction was demonstrable in mice that had been maintained for 20 -30 generations in captivity at the Peromyscus Genetic Stock Center. To analyze the genetic basis of these behavioral differences hybrids were tested. F 1 hybrids between female P. maniculatus and male P. polionotus excavated burrows essentially like those of P. polionotus indicating genetic dominance of the deep burrowing phenotype. The array of burrowing phenotypes among F 1 X P. maniculatus backcross offspring indicated that the burrow pattern differences could be attributed to as few as tw...

Metabolic rate and environmental productivity: Well-provisioned animals evolved to run and idle fast

“…27; http:͞͞ compare.bio.indiana.edu), which uses Martins' (28) adaptation of Felsenstein's (26) method of analysis. Our phylogeny for these five species was developed from published information on Peromyscus systematics (29), with all branch lengths set arbitrarily to 1.0. It turned out that the statistical strength of all five of our principal results (the relations between BMR and NPP, DMI and NPP, DMI and BMR, DDMI and NPP, and DDMI and BMR) remained unchanged after factoring out effects of phylogeny, so we shall not discuss the contrast analysis further.…”

Comparative Analysis of Testis Protein Evolution in Rodents

“…1 comparisons and links to protein function. In contrast, Peromyscus has been studied extensively in the wild and is a speciose genus with well-documented diversity in reproductive morphology, physiology, ecology, behavior, and mating system (Kleiman 1977;Wolff 1989;Dewey and Dawson 2001). Because Peromyscus exhibit a range of reproductive isolation among populations, subspecies, sister species, species, and species groups (Dice 1933;Liu 1953;Maddock and Dawson 1974), we can gain a more in-depth understanding of patterns of reproductive protein evolution and their potential consequences for speciation (Coyne and Orr 2004).…”

Translational Impact

“…Genetics, stress and glucose regulation RESEARCH ARTICLE (BW) showing geographic ranges of the two species (maps), population origins of the captive stocks (lines), and selected differences (below) (Dawson et al, 1993;Dewey and Dawson, 2001). The BW stock is derived from P.m. bairdii trapped in Washtenaw Co, MI; the PO stock is derived from P. polionotus subgriseus in Ocala National Forest, FL.…”

“…Deer mice (Peromyscus) are the most common native North American mammals and inhabit nearly every terrestrial habitat on the continent (Dewey and Dawson, 2001). A study of five Peromyscus species suggested a correlation between metabolic rate and local caloric availability (environmental productivity) (Mueller and Diamond, 2001).…”

“…These stocks retain ancestral behavioral differences (e.g. the degree of paternal care of offspring) (Dewey and Dawson, 2001;Kramer et al, 2005;Margulis, 1998).…”