MBE Advance Access originally published online on April 9, 2009
Molecular Biology and Evolution 2009 26(7):1607-1617; doi:10.1093/molbev/msp072
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Research Articles |
Characterization of 67 Mitochondrial tRNA Gene Rearrangements in the Hymenoptera Suggests That Mitochondrial tRNA Gene Position Is Selectively Neutral
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,1
* Centre for Biomedical Sciences, School of Biological Sciences, University of Wollongong, NSW, Australia
Australian National Insect Collection and CSIRO Entomology, Black Mountain Laboratories, P.O. Box 1700, Canberra, ACT, Australia
Department of Biology, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT
Australian Center for Evolutionary Biology and Biodiversity, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Adelaide, SA, Australia
E-mail: mdowton{at}uow.edu.au.
Accepted for publication April 6, 2009.
We present entire sequences of two hymenopteran mitochondrial genomes and the major portion of three others. We combined these data with nine previously sequenced hymenopteran mitochondrial genomes. This allowed us to infer and analyze the evolution of the 67 mitochondrial gene rearrangements so far found in this order. All of these involve tRNA genes, whereas four also involve larger (protein-coding or ribosomal RNA) genes. We find that the vast majority of mitochondrial gene rearrangements are independently derived. A maximum of four of these rearrangements represent shared, derived organizations, whereas three are convergently derived. The remaining mitochondrial gene rearrangements represent new mitochondrial genome organizations. These data are consistent with the proposal that there are an enormous number of alternative mitochondrial genome organizations possible and that mitochondrial genome organization is, for the most part, selectively neutral. Nevertheless, some mitochondrial genes appear less mobile than others. Genes close to the noncoding region are generally more mobile but only marginally so. Some mitochondrial genes rearrange in a pattern consistent with the duplication/random loss model, but more mitochondrial genes move in a pattern inconsistent with this model. An increased rate of mitochondrial gene rearrangement is not tightly associated with the evolution of parasitism. Although parasitic lineages tend to have more mitochondrial gene rearrangements than nonparasitic lineages, there are exceptions (e.g., Orussus and Schlettererius). It is likely that only a small proportion of the total number of mitochondrial gene rearrangements that have occurred during the evolution of the Hymenoptera have been sampled in the present study.
Key Words: duplication/random loss • tRNA gene • selectively neutral • mitochondrial genome • Hymenoptera
1 These authors contributed equally to this work.
Martin Embley, Associate Editor
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