Monitoring of the analysed populations of the endangered fish species Misgurnus fossilis was conducted using microsatellite analysis and sequencing of a part of the control region. Absolutely first microsatellite markers for weather loach were found. Six polymorphic microsatellite loci were prepared, five of which were tested. Number of alleles per a locus ranged from 3 to 5. All studied populations are differentiated one from another (FST= 0.205 - 0.367). All sampled populations contained unique alleles. Sequential analysis of the mitochondrial control region showed great haplotype similarity of the studied populations which come from one widely spread haplotype H_1, and thus suggested possible hypothesis of recent spreading from one source.
We analyzed sequences of two variable segments of the mitochondrial control region (CR) and flanking regions in the house mouse (Mus musculus). Most of the material was sampled from the eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East, i.e., a source area for the colonization of Europe. These sequences were supplemented with other samples from the whole range of the species including the Yemeni island of Socotra. This island was shown to harbour mice bearing M. m. domesticus and M. m. castaneus CR haplotypes. In addition, we found 10 distinct sequences at the same locality that were markedly different from all known CR sequences. Sequencing of the whole mitochondrial genome suggested these sequences to represent nuclear fragments of the mitochondrial origin (numts). We assessed genetic variation and phylogeography within and among the house mouse subspecies and estimated the substitution rate, coalescence times, and times of population expansion. We show the data to be consistent with time dependency of substitution rates and recent expansion of mouse populations. The expansion of European populations of M. m. musculus and M. m. domesticus estimated from the CR sequences coincide with presumed time of colonization of the continent in the Holocene.