Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (16)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Savolainen, P.
Right arrow Articles by Lundeberg, J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Savolainen, P.
Right arrow Articles by Lundeberg, J.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Molecular Biology and Evolution 17:474-488 (2000)
© 2000 Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution

Regular Articles

mtDNA Tandem Repeats in Domestic Dogs and Wolves: Mutation Mechanism Studied by Analysis of the Sequence of Imperfect Repeats

Peter Savolainen*, Lars Arvestad{dagger} and Joakim Lundeberg,*

*Department of Biotechnology and
{dagger}Department of Numerical Analysis and Computing Science, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm, Sweden

Abstract

The mitochondrial (mt) DNA control region (CR) of dogs and wolves contains an array of imperfect 10 bp tandem repeats. This region was studied for 14 domestic dogs representing the four major phylogenetic groups of nonrepetitive CR and for 5 wolves. Three repeat types were found among these individuals, distributed so that different sequences of the repeat types were formed in different molecules. This enabled a detailed study of the arrays and of the mutation events that they undergo. Extensive heteroplasmy was observed in all individuals; 85 different array types were found in one individual, and the total number of types was estimated at 384. Among unrelated individuals, no identical molecules were found, indicating a high rate of evolution of the region. By performing a pedigree analysis, array types which had been inherited from mother to offspring and array types which were the result of somatic mutations, respectively, could be identified, showing that about 20% of the molecules within an individual had somatic mutations. By direct pairwise comparison of the mutated and the original array types, the physiognomy of the inserted or deleted elements (indels) and the approximate positions of the mutations could be determined. All mutations could be explained by replication slippage or point mutations. The majority of the indels were 1–5 repeats long, but deletions of up to 17 repeats were found. Mutations were found in all parts of the arrays, but at a higher frequency in the 5' end. Furthermore, the inherited array types within the mother-offspring pair were aligned and compared so that germ line mutations could be studied. The pattern of the germ line mutations was approximately the same as that of the somatic mutations.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Mol Biol EvolHome page
L. Kvist, J. Martens, A. A. Nazarenko, and M. Orell
Paternal Leakage of Mitochondrial DNA in the Great Tit (Parus major)
Mol. Biol. Evol., February 1, 2003; 20(2): 243 - 247.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.