PARENT SESSION

Systematics/Zoogeography 2 -- Session Chair: Robert Anderson-- Nelson Hall East, Goodwin Forum

SYSTEMATICS OF THE PEROMYSCUS BOYLII SPECIES GROUP BASED ON INTRON II OF THE ADH GENE. Brian R. Amman and Robert D. Bradley. Department of Biological Sciences, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, USA.

ABSTRACT- Phylogenetic relationships within the Peromyscus boylii species group have been examined using a variety of methods including morphology, allozymes, chromosomes and mitochondrial nucleotide sequences, all of which have produced variable classifications. This study addresses the classification of the Peromyscus boylii species group with a biparentally inherited nuclear marker and compares the resulting phylogeny to that generated from the mitochondrial cytochrome b (Cytb) gene. Specifically, the second intron of the nuclear alcohol dehydrogenase (Adh intron II) gene is used to reexamine the phylogenetic relationships within the P. boylii group and to ascertain the validity of potential undescribed taxa identified with mitochondrial data. The Adh intron II marker has been successfully amplified using PCR protocols and currently, several sequences representing taxa within and outside of the boylii group have been generated. Genetic distances (uncorrected P) generated between these taxa show a range of average sequence divergence between 1 and 7%. This suggests a rate of evolution slightly slower than the Cytb gene in Peromyscus and it appears that this marker is phylogenetically informative. Preliminary data analyses, including parsimony, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian analyses, all exhibit promising results.

KEY WORDS: species group, Peromyscus boylii, adh