The aim of the study was to identify carriers of the mtDNA sequence related to the “mother’s curse” in the Polish population of the brown hare. Even slight mtDNA mutations inherited from mothers by their sons may diminish sperm cell motility by decreasing the synthesis of ATP and thus reduce the reproductive success of the species. In the literature this phenomenon is referred to as the “mother’s curse” effect. Muscle samples from 103 hares were collected from hunters in central, southern and eastern Poland. In order to identify hares with the “mother’s curse”, an mtDNA control region (CR) was selected, amplified according to (26), sequenced and analyzed phylogenetically along with sequences from the Genbank, using the PhyML program (9). Four animals were eliminated from mtDNA studies because of heteroplasmy. A tree consisting of 4 clades was generated. For the purpose of this study, the most important of them was the PW clade, which included 5 Polish hares (females) with sequences characteristic of the “mother’s curse”. This constitutes 5.05% of the population studied. The geographical origins of the hares with the “mother’s curse” were dispersed over almost the entire area under investigation. Two hares came from the Płock region, and the others from the Konin, Zamość and Nowy Sącz regions. A small fragment of the mtDNA sequence proved sufficient for the identification of an important functional effect of mutation in the mtDNA on the condition of an individual and the whole population. For the first time a screening method proved effective in the identification of hares with “mother’s curse” mtDNA mutations in a population of animals living in the wild. By then this had only been achieved in captive colonies. The identified group of female carriers, constituting 5.05% of the investigated sample, which persists in the population regardless of selection, may through their sons further compromise the effective size of a constantly decreasing and endangered population of the brown hare in Poland.
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