MHC diversity in two Acrocephalus species: the outbred Great reed warbler and the inbred Seychelles warbler
Author
Summary, in English
The Great reed warbler (GRW) and the Seychelles warbler (SW) are congeners with markedly different demographic histories. The GRW is a normal outbred bird species while the SW population remains isolated and inbred after undergoing a severe population bottleneck. We examined variation at Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) class I exon 3 using restriction fragment length polymorphism, denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and DNA sequencing. Although genetic variation was higher in the GRW, considerable variation has been maintained in the SW. The ten exon 3 sequences found in the SW were as diverged from each other as were a random sub-sample of the 67 sequences from the GRW. There was evidence for balancing selection in both species, and the phylogenetic analysis showing that the exon 3 sequences did not separate according to species, was consistent with transspecies evolution of the MHC.
Department/s
Publishing year
2003
Language
English
Pages
3523-3529
Publication/Series
Molecular Ecology
Volume
12
Issue
12
Full text
- Available as PDF - 169 kB
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Links
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
Topic
- Biological Sciences
Status
Published
Project
- Long-term study of great reed warblers
Research group
- Molecular Ecology and Evolution Lab
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 0962-1083