Poster 34
Presenter: Michelle Parmenter
Thursday, 4:00 – 6:00pm
Michelle Parmenter, Melissa Gray, Peter Ryan, Bret Payseur
Rapid changes in body size and shape are known to occur in mammals after island colonization, and provide an excellent opportunity to study mechanisms underlying morphological evolution. The evolution of extreme changes in morphology is known to occur frequently in insular rodents. A population of wild house mice, Mus musculus domesticus, found on Gough Island have undergone a dramatic, rapid change in body size since its recent colonization from the mainland, becoming the largest population of house mice in the world. The goal of this study is to determine the genetic basis underlying the extreme morphological changes that occurred in the Gough island mouse population, with a focus on functional structures. Morphological analysis includes bone measurements from X-Ray images and CT-scans, and allometric analysis of functional morphology within and between skeletal features. Although the genetic basis of skeletal differences has been studied in laboratory strains of mice, natural variation in these traits has rarely been examined. By performing an F2 intercross between partially inbred Gough mice and WSB, a small wild-derived inbred strain, QTL analysis can be used alongside the powerful genetic resources of M. musculus domesticus to identify loci driving these morphological changes within this natural population.