Genetic Interactions between White-Tailed and Mule Deer in the Southwestern United States

In used protein electrophoresis to estimate the degree of genetic exchange between white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and mule deer (O. hemionus) from areas of sympatry throughout the southwestern United States. Allelic variation from 25 presumptive gene loci were assayed from 201 deer from 31 localities. Although interspecific hybridization has been previously documented with both nuclear and mitochondrial markers, most areas of sympatry in the Southwest displayed little evidence of nuclear gene introgression. Nevertheless, hybridization was evident from some localities with 2.0% of the white-tailed deer and 1.7% of the mule deer heterozygous at one of 2 diagnostic nuclear loci