Molecular Biology and Evolution, Vol 13, 594-604, Copyright © 1996 by Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution
TP Friedlander, JC Regier, C Mitter and DL Wagner
The sequence of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK) has been
previously identified as a promising candidate for reconstructing
Mesozoic-age divergences (Friedlander, Regier, and Mitter 1992, 1994). To
test this hypothesis more rigorously, 597 nucleotides of aligned PEPCK
coding sequence (approximately 30% of the coding region) were generated
from 18 species representing Mesozoic-age lineages of moths (Insecta:
Lepidoptera) and outgroup taxa. Relationships among basal Lepidoptera are
well established by morphological analysis, providing a strong test for the
utility of a gene which has not previously been used in systematics.
Parsimony and other phylogenetic analyses were conducted on nucleotides by
codon positions (nt1, nt2, nt3) separately and in combination, and on amino
acids, for comparison to the test phylogeny. The highest concordance was
achieved with nt1 + nt2, for which one of two most-parsimonious trees was
identical to the test phylogeny, and with all nucleotides when nt3 was
down-weighted sevenfold or higher, for which a single most-parsimonious
tree identical to the test phylogeny resulted. Substitutions in nt3
approached saturation in many, but not all, pairwise comparisons and their
exclusion or severe downweighting greatly increased the degree of
concordance with the test phylogeny. Neighbor-joining analysis confirms
this finding. The utility of PEPCK for phylogenetics is demonstrated over a
time span for which few other suitable genes are currently available.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
A nuclear gene for higher level phylogenetics: phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase tracks mesozoic-age divergences within Lepidoptera (Insecta)
Center for Agricultural Biotechnology, University of Maryland, College Park 20742-3351, USA. tf19@umail.umd.edu
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