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Tuesday "Noon" Seminar : Nov. 14Jeff Good on "The genetic basis of hybrid male sterility between two incipient species of house mice"
12:30-1:45 p.m. in Biosciences West (map of building location), Room 208 |
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Talk Abstract The genetic basis of speciation is a fundamental problem in evolutionary biology. I am conducting a series of experiments to dissect the genetic basis of hybrid male sterility between two species of mice, Mus musculus and M. domesticus. These species are partially isolated by hybrid male sterility and form a stable hybrid zone across Europe. Previous work has shown that the X chromosome plays a major role in isolation across the hybrid zone. Using a series of reciprocal crosses between inbred lines derived from each species, I have shown that hybrid male sterility is caused by multiple independent genetic factors including one or more X-linked incompatibilities. Interestingly, at least some of the sterility factors are not fixed among inbred lines within a single species suggesting that some of incompatibilities isolating these species remain polymorphic in natural populations. To fine-scale map X-linked incompatibilities, I am using a standard backcross breeding design to reciprocally move three chromosomal regions spanning the X chromosome between M. musculus and M. domesticus (i.e., creating six consomic strains). I have completed eight generations of breeding (~ 700 crosses) and examined the fertility of over 650 experimental males. These data show that X-linked genes causing male sterility originate on the M. musculus X chromosome and that one or more genes influencing testis weight, sperm count, morphology, and motility map to a 15 Mb region in the center of the X. Ongoing mapping efforts combined with genomic and population genetic analyses are being used to refine the search for specific genes underlying sterility within this region. |
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