Molecular Biology and Evolution, Vol 12, 503-513, Copyright © 1995 by Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution
MM Miyamoto and WM Fitch
The covarion hypothesis of molecular evolution states that the fixation of
mutations may alter the probability that any given position will fix the
next change. Tests of this hypothesis using the divergence of real
sequences are compromised because models of rate variation among sites
(e.g., the gamma version of the one-parameter equation) predict sequence
divergence values similar to those for the covarion process. This study
therefore focuses on the extent to which the varied and unvaried codons of
two well-diverged taxa are the same, because fewer are expected by the
covarion hypothesis than by the gamma model. The data for these tests are
the protein sequences of Cu, Zn superoxide dismutase (SOD) for mammals and
plants. Simulation analyses show that the covarion hypothesis makes better
predictions about the frequencies of varied and unhit positions in common
between these two taxa than does the gamma version of the one-parameter
model. Furthermore, the analysis of SOD tertiary structure demonstrates
that mammal and plant variabilities are distributed differently on the
protein. These results support the conclusions that the variable and
invariable codons of mammal and plant SODs are different and that the
covarion model explains the evolution of this protein better than the gamma
version of the one-parameter process. Unlike other models, the covarion
hypothesis accounts for rate fluctuations among positions over time, which
is an important parameter of molecular evolution.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Testing the covarion hypothesis of molecular evolution
Department of Zoology, University of Florida, Gainesville 32611, USA.
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