FOLIA MENDELIANA 42-43, 2007-2008

Abstract
ANNA MATALOVÁ - Mendelianum Museum Moraviae, Zelný trh 6, Brno, Contact: genetika@mzm.cz

A collection of letters by Gregor Mendel to his father and mother, sister Theresia, brother-in-law Leopold Schindler, his nephews Alois and Ferdinand Schindlers are published in photocopies of manuscripts in Gothic letters, their typewritten transcription and English version. They reveal Mendel’s intimate relation to his parents, sisters and close relatives at his home village and date from the period of his monastic life. Memorial Speech dedicated to Mendel is a primary source containing the very first biographical information about Mendel as it appeaered in 1902 shortly after Merndel’s discovery. It is reproduced as a private print composed by Mendel’s nephew Alois Schindler who spent much time in Mendel’s prelate quarters and monatisc gardens during his gymnasium years in Brno and was supported financially by Prelate Mendel during his study of medicine at the University in Vienna

Abstract
BARBORA BÍMOVÁ - Department of Population Biology, Institute of Vertebrate Biology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Studenec 122, 675 02 Konesin, Czech Republic, Laborattory of Mammalian Evolutionary Genetics, Institute of Animal Physiology and Genetics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, v.v.i., Veveří 97, 602 00 Brno 2, Czech Republic

Speciation, a continuous process leading to the evolution of separate species, which are reproductively isolated from each other, is a central tenet of contemporary evolutionary biology. The house mouse, owing to the knowledge of its genome sequence, existence of natural hybrid zones between subspecies and the ease with which it can be kept and bred in captivity, may be seen as a unique evolutionary model to address and solve basic speciation questions. This article reviews the role of behavioural isolation, i.e. diverged subspecies-specific signals and associated preferences, as potential prezygotic barriers contributing to the speciation between two house mouse subspecies, Mus musculus musculus and M. m. domesticus.