Microsatellites indicate a high frequency of multiple paternity in Apodemus (Rodentia)

Microsatellites were employed to estimate frequency of multiple paternity litters of two species of mice (genus Apodemus): striped field mouse (A. agrarius), and wood mouse (A. sylvaticus). Ten pregnant females of A. agrarius and six of A. sylvaticus were collected from natural populations in the northern Ukraine and analysed with 11 and nine microsatellite loci, respectively. Multiple paternity was indicated in eight of 10 litters in A. agrarius and in three of six litters in A. sylvaticus. Multiple paternity was documented at several loci (ranging from two to 10). In two cases (A. agrarius), three males were estimated to have fathered the litter.