在家里發(fā)現(xiàn)耗子的足跡對(duì)多數(shù)人來說至少也是煩惱的事情,。但對(duì)于英國(guó)約克大學(xué)的杰里米?瑟爾(Jeremy Searle)教授來說，這些足跡卻是含金量豐厚的信息庫,，能幫助破解人類遷徙史中的疑難問題,。
最新的英國(guó)《皇家學(xué)會(huì)學(xué)報(bào)B》（Proceedings of the Royal Society B）刊載了他的論文，介紹他率領(lǐng)研究班子追蹤歐洲各地老鼠群遺傳基因的結(jié)果,。
科學(xué)家已經(jīng)知道,，西歐的家鼠是在3000年前左右的鐵器時(shí)代從中東過來的。它們住在人家里,，在人類遷徙時(shí)也往往躲在家當(dāng)里一起搬遷,，并一起乘船飄洋過海。
瑟爾對(duì)英國(guó)96個(gè)不同地點(diǎn)的310只耗子的線粒體DNA(MtDNA,，即Mitochondiral DNA)進(jìn)行研究,。這種展示母系遺傳的基因信息顯示，英國(guó)本土的家鼠與德國(guó)耗子是近親,，而蘇格蘭以北的奧克尼(Orkney)群島上的耗子卻是北歐血統(tǒng)的,。
人們?cè)缫阎肋^去1000多年中有大批來自現(xiàn)在德國(guó)和丹麥地區(qū)的人類部落侵占并遷移到英國(guó)，也知道蘇格蘭北部,，包括奧克尼島是11—12世紀(jì)挪威“海盜”(Vikings)帝國(guó)的地盤,。
但是這些北歐人的足跡如何踏到這里，以及格陵蘭,、冰島和現(xiàn)在屬于加拿大的紐芬蘭島,，卻仍然有許多疑問。
瑟爾教授說,，他的發(fā)現(xiàn)可望為解開這些以及人類遷徙史中的其他疑難問題提供有用的工具,。
研究者對(duì)DNA的研究也發(fā)現(xiàn)，新西蘭的家鼠祖先大多來自英國(guó),，不過也有一些來自東歐和南亞,，反映了移民的不同來源。他說：“對(duì)家鼠MtDNA的研究還有可能揭示人類歷史其它新的領(lǐng)域。”（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦原始出處：
Proceedings of the Royal Society B,，doi：10.1098/rspb.2008.0958,，Jeremy B. Searle，F(xiàn)ríða Jóhannesdóttir
Of mice and (Viking?) men: phylogeography of British and Irish house mice
Jeremy B. Searle1, Catherine S. Jones2, 3, İslam Gündüz1, 4, Moira Scascitelli1, 5, 6, Eleanor P. Jones1, Jeremy S. Herman1, 7, R. Victor Rambau1, 8, Leslie R. Noble2, 3, R.J. Berry2, Mabel D. Giménez1, Fríða Jóhannesdóttir1
The west European subspecies of house mouse (Mus musculus domesticus) has gained much of its current widespread distribution through commensalism with humans. This means that the phylogeography of M. m. domesticus should reflect patterns of human movements. We studied restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) and DNA sequence variations in mouse mitochondrial (mt) DNA throughout the British Isles (328 mice from 105 localities, including previously published data). There is a major mtDNA lineage revealed by both RFLP and sequence analyses, which is restricted to the northern and western peripheries of the British Isles, and also occurs in Norway. This distribution of the ‘Orkney’ lineage fits well with the sphere of influence of the Norwegian Vikings and was probably generated through inadvertent transport by them. To form viable populations, house mice would have required large human settlements such as the Norwegian Vikings founded. The other parts of the British Isles (essentially most of mainland Britain) are characterized by house mice with different mtDNA sequences, some of which are also found in Germany, and which probably reflect both Iron Age movements of people and mice and earlier development of large human settlements. MtDNA studies on house mice have the potential to reveal novel aspects of human history.
