Late Pleistocene climate change and population dynamics of Japanese Myodes voles inferred from mitochondrial cytochrome b sequences.

ABSTRACT: The Japanese archipelago is comprised of four main islands-Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu-which contain high mountainous areas that likely allowed for lineage differentiation and population genetic structuring during the climatic changes of the late Pleistocene. Here, we assess the historical background of the evolutionary dynamics of herbivorous red-backed voles (Myodes) in Japan, examining the evolutionary trends of mitochondrial cytochrome b gene (Cytb) sequence variation. Four apparent signals from rapid expansion events were detected in three species, M. rufocanus and M. rutilus from Hokkaido and M. smithii from central Honshu. Taken together with results from previous studies on Japanese wood mice (Apodemus spp.), three of the e

SUBMITTER: Honda A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6660811 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature