Molecular phylogeny of the whole Apodemus genus based on the complete mitochondrial genome and two nuclear genes.

The Apodemus genus is composed of 20 different species distributed throughout the Palearctic region. It is subdivised into two subgenera: - the Sylvaemus subgenus corresponding to the majority of the species living in the Western Part of the Palearctic region; - the Apodemus subgenus, associating most of the Asian species.

Although these rodent species are very common and are spread in many European and Asian habitats, their evolutionary history and their phylogenetic relationships are still largely unknown. Previous studies developed on a restricted number of genetic markers and a subset of the Apodemus species gave partial information concerning these aspects.
However, many gaps still remain even if such information would be particularly important not only in fundamental taxonomy but also in the field of epidemiology. Indeed many Apodemus species are reservoirs of different pathogens, like the Hantaviruses. A better knowledge of their evolutionary relationships would help to better understand virus spill-overs, which seem to exist among several Apodemus species.

The aim of our study was to analyse for the first time in a single research, the totality of the 20 Apodemus species, using as genetic markers, the whole mitochondrial genome as well as two nuclear genes. The phylogenetic analyses based on 20 000 nuclear and mitochondrial DNA base pairs, give a clear pictures of the phylogenetic relationships existing among these species. These results will be compared with the different Hantavirus strains already identified on this rodent group.