Molecular Biology and Evolution, Vol 13, 923-932, Copyright © 1996 by Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution
C Simon, L Nigro, J Sullivan, K Holsinger, A Martin, A Grapputo, A Franke and C McIntosh
We demonstrate using Drosophila, periodical cicadas, and hominid primates,
that the molecular clock based on animal mitochondrial small- subunit (12S)
rRNA genes ticks at significantly different relative rates depending on
which taxa and which region of the gene are examined. Drosophila, which are
commonly used as model taxa, are evolving in a highly peculiar manner with
the majority of sites in the 3' half of the 12S gene apparently invariant.
The analogous 3' half of the mitochondrial large-subunit rRNA gene (16S)
appears to be similarly constrained. It is surprising that these regions
that are already highly constrained in all animals should be even more
constrained in Drosophila, especially when the Drosophila mitochondrial
genome as a whole does not display a similar rate slowdown. This extreme
12S rate slowdown is not apparent in periodical cicadas or hominid primates
and appears to be related to strong structural and functional constraints
rather than a depressed mutation rate. Finally, the slow average rate of
evolution in the third domain of Drosophila does not imply that the few
variable sites lack multiple hits.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Large differences in substitutional pattern and evolutionary rate of 12S ribosomal RNA genes
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology University of Connecticut, Storrs 06269-3043, USA. csimon@uconnvm.uconn.edu
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  F. A. Matsen and M. Steel Phylogenetic Mixtures on a Single Tree Can Mimic a Tree of Another Topology Syst Biol, October 1, 2007; 56(5): 767 - 775. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 H.-C. Wang, M. Spencer, E. Susko, and A. J. Roger Testing for Covarion-like Evolution in Protein Sequences Mol. Biol. Evol., January 1, 2007; 24(1): 294 - 305. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
D. C. Marshall, C. Simon, and T. R. Buckley Accurate Branch Length Estimation in Partitioned Bayesian Analyses Requires Accommodation of Among-Partition Rate Variation and Attention to Branch Length Priors Syst Biol, December 1, 2006; 55(6): 993 - 1003. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
P. Lockhart, P. Novis, B. G. Milligan, J. Riden, A. Rambaut, and T. Larkum Heterotachy and Tree Building: A Case Study with Plastids and Eubacteria Mol. Biol. Evol., January 1, 2006; 23(1): 40 - 45. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
P. Lockhart and M. Steel A Tale of Two Processes Syst Biol, December 1, 2005; 54(6): 948 - 951. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
M. A. Suchard, R. E. Weiss, and J. S. Sinsheimer Bayesian Selection of Continuous-Time Markov Chain Evolutionary Models Mol. Biol. Evol., June 1, 2001; 18(6): 1001 - 1013. [Abstract] [Full Text]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 R. D. M. Page Comparative analysis of secondary structure of insect mitochondrial small subunit ribosomal RNA using maximum weighted matching Nucleic Acids Res., October 15, 2000; 28(20): 3839 - 3845. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
M. A. F. Noor and J. C. Larkin A Re-evaluation of 12S Ribosomal RNA Variability in Drosophila pseudoobscura Mol. Biol. Evol., June 1, 2000; 17(6): 938 - 941. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|