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Mammalian microevolution

Rapid change in mouse mitochondrial DNA

Nature volume 423, page 397 (2003)Cite this article

An Erratum to this article was published on 26 June 2003

Wild mice around Chicago may have switched genotype to keep pace with modern living.

Abstract

We have compared the sequences of mitochondrial DNA extracted from museum skins of white-footed mice caught in the Chicago area since 1855 and from modern mice trapped alive in the same locations. We found a consistently similar directional change of mouse genotype over this period at each of five collection sites that were separated by 10–70 km. The genotype most common 100 years ago is now extremely rare, indicating that the mammalian mitochondrial genome can undergo rapid evolution.

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Figure 1: Modern map of the Chicago region where the change in genetic diversity of white-footed mice over 150 years was analysed.
Figure 2

J. SCHULZ/BROOKFIELD ZOO

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Author notes

  1. Oliver R.W. Pergams

    Present address: Department of Conservation Biology, Chicago Zoological Society and Smith Fellows Program, The Nature Conservancy, Brookfield, Illinois, 60513, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, 60607, Illinois, USA

    Oliver R.W. Pergams & Dennis Nyberg

  2. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Washington University in St Louis School of Medicine, St Louis, 63110, Missouri, USA

    Wayne M. Barnes

Authors
  1. Oliver R.W. Pergams
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  2. Wayne M. Barnes
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  3. Dennis Nyberg
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Oliver R.W. Pergams.

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Competing interests

Competing financial interests: W.M.B. is an inventor and provider or Klentaq1 DNA polymerase (corrected on 27 May 2003 from "declared none", as was previously stated).

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Pergams, O., Barnes, W. & Nyberg, D. Rapid change in mouse mitochondrial DNA. Nature 423, 397 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/423397a

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