Evaluation of the Fertility of Ecologically Different Forms of House Mice and Hybrids of the Superspecies Complex Mus musculus sensu lato (Rodentia: Muridae)

• Published in: Biology bulletin of the Russian Academy of Sciences Vol. 44; no. 10; pp. 1257 - 1264
• Main Authors: Maltsev, A. N., Ambaryan, A. V., Kotenkova, E. V.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Moscow Pleiades Publishing 01-12-2017; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Biochemistry; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Cell Biology; Ecology; Heritability; Hybrids; Life Sciences; Muridae; Mus musculus; Rodents; Sperm; Zoology; relative mass of testes; house mice; sperm quality; fertility
• ISSN: 1062-3590; 1608-3059
• DOI: 10.1134/S1062359017100089

In house mice from the superspecies complex
Mus musculus
s. l., the relative weight of their testicles is higher and the sperm quality is better for wildliving species than for synantropic species. It is shown that this pattern is observed at an intraspecific level as well, since the testicle weight index and sperm concentration were significantly higher in the hemi-synantropic subspecies
Mus musculus wagneri
and
M. m. gansuensis
as compared to the synantropic
M. m. musculus
in a number of comparisons. The heritability of these indices should be considered when interpreting the results of experimental crosses in house mice.