Multiple paternity in wild common shrews (sorex araneus) is confirmed by dna-fingerprinting

ABSTRACT We have tested for the occurrence of multiple paternity in wild common shrews by karyotypic analysis and DNA-fingerprinting of five wild-caught females and their litters. Karyotypic

data suggest that some litters were sired by more than one male, but provide no definitive evidence. By using DNA-fingerprinting, it was possible to establish that two males sired the

litter of two females. The present report shows that multiple paternity is not a rare phenomenon in the common shrew and by using DNA-fingerprinting it is possible to assign individual

offspring to different male parents even when none of the putative fathers are available for inspection. SIMILAR CONTENT BEING VIEWED BY OTHERS INVESTIGATION OF GENETIC DIVERSITY AND

POLYANDRY OF _LEPTINOTARSA DECEMLINEATA_ USING X-LINKED MICROSATELLITE MARKERS Article Open access 11 December 2023 DEVELOPING MICROSATELLITE DUPLEX PCR REACTIONS FOR STERLET (_ACIPENSER

RUTHENUS_) AND THEIR APPLICATION IN PARENTAGE IDENTIFICATION Article Open access 14 July 2022 A HIGH-DENSITY LINKAGE MAP REVEALS BROAD- AND FINE-SCALE SEX DIFFERENCES IN RECOMBINATION IN THE

HIHI (STITCHBIRD; _NOTIOMYSTIS CINCTA_) Article Open access 02 August 2024 ARTICLE PDF REFERENCES * Birkhead, T R, and Hunter, F M. 1990. Mechanisms of sperm competition. _Trends Ecol

Evoi_, 5, 48–52. Article  CAS  Google Scholar  * Brambell, F W R. 1935. Reproduction in the common shrew (_Sorex araneus_ Linnaeus). I. The oestrous cycle of the female. _Phil Trans R Soc

Lond, Series B_, 225, 1–49. Article  Google Scholar  * Brookfield, J F Y. 1989. How many fathers? _Fingerprint News_, 3, 7–9. Google Scholar  * Burke, T, and Bruford, M W. 1987. DNA

fingerprinting in birds. _Nature_, 327, 149–152. Article  CAS  Google Scholar  * Burke, T, Davies, N, Bruford, M W, and Hatchwell, B J. 1989. Parental care and mating behaviour of

polyandrous dunnocks _Prunella modularis_ related to paternity by DNA fingerprinting. _Nature_, 338, 249–251. Article  Google Scholar  * Crowcroft, P. 1957. _The Life of the Shrew_. Max

Reinhardt, London. Google Scholar  * Dehnel, A. 1952. The biology of breeding of common shrew _S. araneus_ L. in laboratory conditions. _Annales Universitatis Mariae Curie-Slodowska_, Series

C, 6, 11, 359–376. Google Scholar  * Dewsbury, D A, and Baumgardner, D J. 1981. Studies of sperm competition in two species of muroid rodents. _Behav Ecol Sociobiol_, 9, 121–133. Article 

Google Scholar  * Feinberg, A P, and Vogelstein, B. 1983. A technique for radiolabeling DNA restriction endonuclease fragments to high specific activity. _Anal Biochem_, 132, 6–13. Article 

CAS  Google Scholar  * Georges, M, Lequarré, A-S, Castelli, M, Hanset, R, and Vassart, G. 1988. DNA fingerprinting in domestic animals using four different minisatellite probes. _Cytogenet

Cell Genet_, 47, 127–131. Article  CAS  Google Scholar  * Ginsberg, J R, and Huck, U W. 1989. Sperm competition in mammals. _Trends Ecol Evoi_, 4, 74–79. Article  CAS  Google Scholar  *

Jeffreys, A J. 1987. Highly variable minisatellites and DNA fingerprints. _Biochem Soc Trans_, 15, 309–317. Article  CAS  Google Scholar  * Jeffreys, A J, and Morton, D B. 1987. DNA

fingerprints of dogs and cats. _Anim Genet_, 18, 1–15. Article  CAS  Google Scholar  * Jeffreys, A J, Wilson, V, and Thein, S L. 1985. Hypervariable ‘minisatellite’ regions in human DNA.

_Nature_, 314, 67–73. Article  CAS  Google Scholar  * Jeffreys, A J, Wilson, V, Kelly, R, Taylor, B A, and Bulfield, G. 1987. Mouse DNA ‘fingerprints’: analysis of chromosome localization

and germline stability of hypervariable loci in recombinant inbred strains. _Nuc Acids Res_, 15, 2823–2836. Article  CAS  Google Scholar  * Michielsen, N C. 1966. Intraspecific and

interspecific competition in the shrews _Sorex araneus_ L. and _S. minutas_ L. _Arch Néerl Zool_, 17, 73–174. Article  Google Scholar  * Nakamura, Y, Leppert, M, O'Connell, P _et al_.

1987. Variable number of tandem repeat (VNTR) markers for human gene mapping. _Science_, 235, 1616–1622. Article  CAS  Google Scholar  * Parker, G A. 1970. Sperm competition and its

consequences in the insects. _Biol Rev_, 45, 525–567. Article  Google Scholar  * Searle, J B. 1984. Nondisjunction frequencies in Robert-sonian heterozygotes from natural populations of the

common shrew, _Sorex araneus_ L. _Cytogenet Cell Genet_, 38, 265–271. Article  CAS  Google Scholar  * Searle, J B. 1986. Factors responsible for a karyotypic polymorphism in the common

shrew, _Sorex araneus_. _Proc R Soc Lond B_, 229, 277–298. Article  CAS  Google Scholar  * Searle, J B. 1990. Evidence for multiple paternity in the common shrew (_Sorex araneus_). _J

Mammal_, 71, 139–144. Article  Google Scholar  * Shillito, (BABINGTON), J F. 1963. Observations on the range and movements of a woodland population of the common shrew _Sorex araneus_ L.

_Proc Zool Soc Lond_, 140, 533–546. Google Scholar  * Tarkowski, A K. 1957. Studies on reproduction and prenatal mortality of the common shrew (_Sorex araneus_ L.) II. Reproduction under

natural conditions. _Annales Universitatis Mariae Curie-Sklodowska, Series C_, 10, 177–244. Google Scholar  * Vassart, G, Georges, M, Monsieur, R, Brocas, H, Leouarré, A-S, and Christophe,

D. 1987. A sequence in M13 phage detects hypervariable minisatellites in human and animal DNA. _Science_, 235, 683–684. Article  CAS  Google Scholar  * Weiss, M L, Wilson, V, Chan, C,

Turner, T, and Jeffreys, A J. 1988. Application of DNA fingerprinting probes to Old world monkeys. _Am J Primatol_, 16, 73–79. Article  Google Scholar  * Wetton, J H, Carter, R E, Parkin, D

T, and Walters, D. 1987. Demographic study of a wild house sparrow population by DNA fingerprinting. _Nature_, 327, 147–149. Article  CAS  Google Scholar  * Wójcik, J M, and Searle, J B.

1988. The chromosome complement of _Sorex granarius_ — the ancestral karyotype of the common shrew (_Sorex araneus_)? _Heredity_, 61, 225–229. Article  Google Scholar  Download references

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We would like to thank Alec J. Jeffreys for the 33.15 minisatellite clone and Susanne Veenhuizen for technical assistance. The manuscript benefited from comments and

suggestions from Cathy Jones, Kate Lessells, Honor Prentice and Paula Stockley. This investigation was supported by grants from the Swedish Natural Science Research Council (HT), the Erik

Philip-Sörensen Foundation (HT), The Royal Society of London (JS) and the Natural Environment Research Council (SM). AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Department of Genetics,

Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden Håkan Tegelström, Jeremy Searle, John Brookfield & Simon Mercer * Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, England Håkan

Tegelström, Jeremy Searle & Simon Mercer * Department of Genetics, University of Nottingham, Queens Medical Centre, Nottingham, England John Brookfield Authors * Håkan Tegelström View

author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Jeremy Searle View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * John

Brookfield View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Simon Mercer View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google

Scholar RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Tegelström, H., Searle, J., Brookfield, J. _et al._ Multiple paternity in wild common shrews

(_Sorex araneus_) is confirmed by DNA-fingerprinting. _Heredity_ 66, 373–379 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.1991.47 Download citation * Received: 09 August 1990 * Issue Date: 01 June

1991 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.1991.47 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: Get shareable link Sorry, a shareable link is

not currently available for this article. Copy to clipboard Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative KEYWORDS * DNA-fingerprinting * karyotypic analysis * multiple

paternity * _Sorex araneus_