Molecular Biology and Evolution, Vol 2, 109-125, Copyright © 1985 by Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution
LG Kessler and JC Avise
Levels of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequence divergence between species
within each of several avian (Anas, Aythya, Dendroica, Melospiza, and
Zonotrichia) and nonavian (Lepomis and Hyla) vertebrate genera were
compared. An analysis of digestion profiles generated by 13-18 restriction
endonucleases indicates little overlap in magnitude of mtDNA divergence for
the avian versus nonavian taxa examined. In 55 interspecific comparisons
among the avian congeners, the fraction of identical fragment lengths (F)
ranged from 0.26 to 0.96 (F = 0.46), and, given certain assumptions, these
translate into estimates of nucleotide sequence divergence (p) ranging from
0.007 to 0.088; in 46 comparisons among the fish and amphibian congeners, F
values ranged from 0.00 to 0.36 (F = 0.09), yielding estimates of P greater
than 0.070. The small mtDNA distances among avian congeners are associated
with protein-electrophoretic distances (D values) less than approximately
0.2, while the mtDNA distances among assayed fish and amphibian congeners
are associated with D values usually greater than 0.4. Since the
conservative pattern of protein differentiation previously reported for
many avian versus nonavian taxa now appears to be paralleled by a
conservative pattern of mtDNA divergence, it seems increasingly likely that
many avian species have shared more recent common ancestors than have their
nonavian taxonomic counterparts. However, estimates of avian divergence
times derived from mtDNA- and protein-calibrated clocks cannot readily be
reconciled with some published dates based on limited fossil remains. If
the earlier paleontological interpretations are valid, then protein and
mtDNA evolution must be somewhat decelerated in birds. The empirical and
conceptual issues raised by these findings are highly analogous to those in
the long-standing debate about rates of molecular evolution and times of
separation of ancestral hominids from African apes.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
A comparative description of mitochondrial DNA differentiation in selected avian and other vertebrate genera
Department of Genetics, University of Georgia, Athens 30602.
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