Question

The MGI Mouse Genome Informatics website states for the Mus musculus 129 strain, popular in biomedical research, that:

Origin: Dunn 1928 from crosses of coat colour stocks from English fanciers and a chinchilla stock from Castle.SourceHowever, according to wikipedia, Chinchillas are in the suborder Hystricomorpha, whereas the house mouse is in the Myomorpha suborder of the Rodentia order. From my limited knowledge about species hybridisation, this seems like quite the evolutionary distance for these species to hybridise. How plausible is it that the 129 mouse strain was actually bred through hybridisation efforts between chinchillas and house mice?

Answer 1

The statement that the Mus musculus 129 strain was bred through hybridization efforts between chinchillas and house mice is not plausible.

Step-by-step explanation:

The statement on the MGI Mouse Genome Informatics website that the Mus musculus 129 strain was bred through hybridization efforts between chinchillas and house mice is not plausible. The two species belong to different suborders within the Rodentia order, with chinchillas in the Hystricomorpha suborder and the house mouse in the Myomorpha suborder. Hybridization between species that are distantly related evolutionarily is unlikely due to the differences in their genetic makeup and reproductive barriers.