Mice of the genus Peromyscus, including several endangered subspecies, occur throughout North America and have been important models for conservation research. We describe 526 primer pairs that amplify microsatellite DNA loci for P. maniculatus bairdii, 467 of which also amplify in P. polionotus subgriseus. For 12 of these loci, we report diversity data from a natural population. These markers will be an important resource for future genomic studies of Peromyscus evolution and mammalian conservation.
Keywords microsatellite; Peromyscus maniculatus; Peromyscus polionotus; SSR; STR; PCR primersAs genomic markers, tools and techniques are becoming increasingly accessible, a handful of new "model" systems have emerged, allowing us to begin to better understand the evolution of organismal diversity (Abzhanov et al. 2008). One of these emerging models is Peromyscus (Cricetidae: Neotominae), arguably the most diverse and well-studied group of non-commensal rodents. Mice of the genus Peromyscus are ubiquitous throughout North America with more than 50 species distributed across a variety of habitats (Hall 1981). The most widespread species, the deer mouse Peromyscus maniculatus, has been the subject of conservation, ecological and evolutionary studies starting in the early 1900 's (e.g., Osgood 1909Dice 1940;Sullivan 1977;Jimenez et al. 1994;Storz et al. 2007) and is considered a model organism for such research (Dewey and Dawson 2001). Peromyscus maniculatus is comprised of more than 65 subspecies that display a wide range of morphological and behavioral variation (King 1968;Hall 1981). In addition, as a carrier of both Lyme disease (Spielman et al. 1985) and hantavirus (Childs et al. 1994), P. maniculatus recently emerged as a health concern and warrants continued research and monitoring for environmental and human health effects.Correspondence: Travis C. Glenn, Department of Environmental Health Science, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602 USA. travisg@uga.edu.
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Author ManuscriptConserv Genet. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2011 June 1.
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NIH-PA Author ManuscriptThe maniculatus species group includes several geographically peripheral taxa, including its sister species, the oldfield mouse Peromyscus polionotus (Blair 1950;Avise et al. 1983;Bradley et al. 2007). Blair (1950) proposed that P. polionotus split from P. maniculatus in the Pleistocene, and populations of P. polionotus were isolated to the southeastern states and along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts. P. polionotus has sixteen subspecies (Hall 1981), eight of which are 'beach mice' that occur along the sandy dunes and barrier islands of the Atlantic and Gulf coast (Bowen 1968;Bowen and Dawson 1977). Six of these eight subspecies are classified as endangered or threatened and one, P. p. decoloratus, is now considered extinct (USFWS 1999). Subspecies of P. polionotus exhibit broad variation in pelage coloration (Bowen 1968;Mullen and Hoekstra 2008) and frequently match their loca...