Determination of genetic variations between Apodemus mystacinus populations distributed in Turkey inferred from mtDNA PCR–RFLP

The rocky mouse, Apodemus mystacinus, is a rodent species distributed in Anatolia. A total of 108 specimens from 19 localities in Turkey were collected to study the molecular variation of A. mystacinus inferred from RFLP of mtDNA cytochrome b (cytb) and D-loop. MboI, HaeIII, and RsaI from cytb digestion and MboI, BfaI, and HinfI from D-loop digestion showed differentiation among the studied specimens. The UPGMA dendrogram of the combined data of cytb and D-loop indicated 3 main clades, A. m. euxinus, A. m. mystacinus, and A. m. smyrnensis, distributed in Turkey. The haplotype diversity observed in the present study was high. Furthermore, the fixation index values (FST) ranged from 0.75093 to 0.83384, which indicated high diversity among the clades. These 3 A. mystacinus clades of Turkey were also supported by analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) results, by revealing that genetic diversity was higher among groups (79.55%) than within the groups.