Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Supplementary Data
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 (50)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Prychitko, T. M.
Right arrow Articles by Moore, W. S.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Prychitko, T. M.
Right arrow Articles by Moore, W. S.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Molecular Biology and Evolution 17:1101-1111 (2000)
© 2000 Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution

Article

Comparative Evolution of the Mitochondrial Cytochrome b Gene and Nuclear ß-Fibrinogen Intron 7 in Woodpeckers

Thomas M. Prychitko3, and William S. Moore

Department of Biological Sciences, Wayne State University

Most molecular phylogenetic studies of vertebrates have been based on DNA sequences of mitochondrial-encoded genes. MtDNA evolves rapidly and is thus particularly useful for resolving relationships among recently evolved groups. However, it has the disadvantage that all of the mitochondrial genes are inherited as a single linkage group so that only one independent gene tree can be inferred regardless of the number of genes sequenced. Introns of nuclear genes are attractive candidates for independent sources of rapidly evolving DNA: they are pervasive, most of their nucleotides appear to be unconstrained by selection, and PCR primers can be designed for sequences in adjacent exons where nucleotide sequences are conserved. We sequenced intron 7 of the ß-fibrinogen gene (ß-fibint7) for a diversity of woodpeckers and compared the phylogenetic signal and nucleotide substitution properties of this DNA sequence with that of mitochondrial-encoded cytochrome b (cyt b) from a previous study. A few indels (insertions and deletions) were found in the ß-fibint7 sequences, but alignment was not difficult, and the indels were phylogentically informative. The ß-fibint7 and cyt b gene trees were nearly identical to each other but differed in significant ways from the traditional woodpecker classification. Cyt b evolves 2.8 times as fast as ß-fibint7 (14.0 times as fast at third codon positions). Despite its relatively slow substitution rate, the phylogenetic signal in ß-fibint7 is comparable to that in cyt b for woodpeckers, because ß-fibint7 has less base composition bias and more uniform nucleotide substitution probabilities. As a consequence, compared with cyt b, ß-fibint7 nucleotide sites are expected to enter more distinct character states over the course of evolution and have fewer multiple substitutions and lower levels of homoplasy. Moreover, in contrast to cyt b, in which nearly two thirds of nucleotide sites rarely vary among closely related taxa, virtually all ß-fibint7 nucleotide sites appear free of selective constraints, which increases informative sites per unit sequenced. However, the estimated gamma distribution used to model rate variation among sites suggests constraints on some ß-fibint7 sites. This study suggests that introns will be useful for phylogenetic studies of recently evolved groups.


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
T. F. Wright, E. E. Schirtzinger, T. Matsumoto, J. R. Eberhard, G. R. Graves, J. J. Sanchez, S. Capelli, H. Muller, J. Scharpegge, G. K. Chambers, et al.
A Multilocus Molecular Phylogeny of the Parrots (Psittaciformes): Support for a Gondwanan Origin during the Cretaceous
Mol. Biol. Evol., October 1, 2008; 25(10): 2141 - 2156.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Nucleic Acids ResHome page
M. Irimia and S. W. Roy
Spliceosomal introns as tools for genomic and evolutionary analysis
Nucleic Acids Res., March 1, 2008; 36(5): 1703 - 1712.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Mol Biol EvolHome page
C. Bardeleben, R. L. Moore, and R. K. Wayne
Isolation and Molecular Evolution of the Selenocysteine tRNA (Cf TRSP) and RNase P RNA (Cf RPPH1) Genes in the Dog Family, Canidae
Mol. Biol. Evol., February 1, 2005; 22(2): 347 - 359.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Mol Biol EvolHome page
S. Creer, A. Malhotra, and R. S. Thorpe
Assessing the Phylogenetic Utility of Four Mitochondrial Genes and a Nuclear Intron in the Asian Pit Viper Genus, Trimeresurus: Separate, Simultaneous, and Conditional Data Combination Analyses
Mol. Biol. Evol., August 1, 2003; 20(8): 1240 - 1251.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Mol Biol EvolHome page
T. M. Prychitko and W. S. Moore
Alignment and Phylogenetic Analysis of {beta}-Fibrinogen Intron 7 Sequences Among Avian Orders Reveal Conserved Regions Within the Intron
Mol. Biol. Evol., May 1, 2003; 20(5): 762 - 771.
[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.