Mitochondrial DNA and chromosomal studies of wild mice (Mus) from Turkey and Iran

Complete D-loop sequences of 20 Mus from three localities in Turkey and sev en in Iran were characterized. These countries are thought to be close to t he place of origin of the subspecies Mus musculus domesticus. Five new M. m . domesticus haplotypes were added to the nine already known for the region . Four of these 14 haplotypes were very similar to the consensus D-loop seq uence for western Europe defined by Nachman et al. (1994), which may repres ent the ancestral condition for M. m. domesticus. A divergent mtDNA lineage is found in various parts of Turkey and northern Iran; it has spread into western Europe, but other European lineages were not found in either Turkey or Iran. The other Mus D-loop sequences were of M. m. castaneus and Mus ma cedonicus and confirmed M. macedonicus as a monotypic species with low nucl eotide diversity. The prevalence of the standard 40-chromosome complement i n this region is particularly interesting with regards M. m. domesticus, as it is consistent with the in situ origin of Robertsonian karyotypic races (2n < 40) in western Europe.