Theory predicts that naturally occurring hybrid zones between genetically distinct taxa can move over space and time as a result of selection and/or demographic processes, with certain types of hybrid zones being more or less likely to move. Determining whether a hybrid zone is stationary or moving has important implications for understanding evolutionary processes affecting interactions in hyb...

Being subject to intense post-copulatory selection, sperm size is a principal determining component of male fitness. Although previous studies have presented comparative sperm size data at higher taxonomic levels, information on the evolution of sperm size within species is generally lacking. Here, we studied two house mouse subspecies, Mus musculus musculus and Mus musculus domesticus, which u...

Isotopically labeled, 15N and 15N/13C forms of recombinant methionine-r-sulfoxide reductase 1 (MsrB1, SelR) from Mus musculus were produced, in which catalytic selenocysteine was replaced with cysteine. We report here the 1H, 13C and 15N NMR assignment of the reduced form of this mammalian protein.

Using generic PCR, we identified a variant of murine pneumotropic virus (MptV) (family Polyomaviridae) in 3 wild house mice (Mus musculus). The fully amplified and sequenced genomes display considerable differences from the MptV genomes published previously and enlighten us on the natural diversity of rodent polyomaviruses.

A hantavirus, designated Leakey virus, was isolated from a Mus musculus captured in Real County, Texas, U.S.A. in August 1986. Virus-specific fluorescence was first detected 13 days after inoculation of Vero-E6 cells with spleen tissue from the seropositive M. musculus. Ultrastructurally, the new isolate resembled other hantaviruses. Leakey virus induced a fatal meningoencephalitis in infant Fi...

The control region and flanking tRNAs were sequenced from 139 Mus musculus mitochondrial DNAs (mtDNAs) from mice collected at 44 localities extending from Germany to Japan. Among the 36 types of M. musculus mtDNA resolved, five have an added 75-bp direct repeat; the two copies within an individual differ by two to four base substitutions. Among 90 M. domesticus mtDNAs sequenced, 12 new types we...

Abbreviations: CAI – Codon Adaptation Index; D – effective gene family size (number of additional gene duplicates); E-value – expectation value; KD – knockdown; KO – knockout; MIPS Munich Information Center for Protein Sequences; P(S) – probability of survival upon singleor double-gene KO or KD; R – squared Pearson correlation coefficient; SGA– Synthetic Genetic Array; SSL – synthetic sick or l...

Mate choice is the outcome of sexual preference for partners carrying specific signals. Thus, mating among conspecifics (homogamy) depends on the occurrence of species recognition systems. We asked what happens if populations diverge, and we investigated female sexual preference between two subspecies of the house mouse in populations from the borders of a hybrid zone ( Jutland, Denmark). We us...