The molecular mechanism underlying the “rare allele phenomenon” in a subspecific hybrid zone of the California field mouse, Peromyscus californicus

Abstract

Natural hybrid zones are known to have unusually high levels of novel or otherwise rare electrophoretic variants (the “rare allele phenomenon”). These variant alleles are most likely the result either of high levels of unique mutations in hybrids or of intragenic recombination between divergent alleles from the parental populations. This study uses DNA sequence comparisons to determine which process has produced a rare allele of the 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase (6PGD) gene in a subspecific hybrid zone of the California field mouse ( Peromyscus californicus ).