A preliminary study of the allozyme variation in the grey hamster, Cricetulus migratorius (Mammalia: Rodentia), from the Asian part of Turkey

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the degree of genetic variation and divergence by cellulose acetate gel electrophoresis between samples of Cricetulus migratorius, a cricetine rodent distributed in the Asian part (Anatolia) of Turkey. Out of twenty allozyme loci scored for fifteen enzyme systems, eleven loci were detected to be polymorphic in at least one locality of the Turkish C. migratorius. Indices of genetic variability (the percentage of polymorphic loci, mean number of alleles per locus, and mean observed and expected heterozygosities) were found to be P(95%) = 28, A = 1.3, Ho = 0.226 and He = 0.218, respectively. Nei?s unbiased genetic distances ranged from 0.000 to 0.153, with an average value of 0.069. The mean gene flow was calculated to be Nm = 0.7484. This is a preliminary study describing the allozymic variations of C. migratorius from Turkey. As there are no extensive data on the allozymic variations of C. migratorius from other regions, our results could not be compared, in detail with those of other populations of the species C. migratorius.