Molecular Biology and Evolution, Vol 8, 475-493, Copyright © 1991 by Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution
AR Hoelzel, JM Hancock and GA Dover
We sequenced the mitochondrial DNA D-loop regions from two cetacean species
and compared these with the published D-loop sequences of several other
mammalian species, including one other cetacean. Nucleotide substitution
rates, DNA sequence simplicity, possible open reading frames (ORFs), and
potential RNA secondary structure were investigated. The substitution rate
is an order of magnitude lower than would be expected on the basis of
reports on human sequence variation in this region but are consistent with
interspecific primate and rodent D-loop sequence variation and with
estimates of substitution rates from whole mitochondrial genomes.
Deletions/insertions are less common in the cetacean D-loop than in other
vertebrate species. Areas of high sequence simplicity (clusters of short
repetitive motifs) across the region correspond to areas of high sequence
divergence. Three regions predicted to form secondary structures are
homologous to such putative structures in other species; however, the
presumptive structures most conserved in cetaceans are different from those
reported for other taxa. While all three species have possible long ORFs,
only a short sequence of seven amino acids is shared with other mammalian
species, and those changes that had occurred within it are all
nonsynonymous. We conclude that DNA slippage, in addition to point
mutation, contributes to the evolution of the D-loop and that regions of
conserved secondary structure in cetaceans and an ORF are unlikely to
contribute significantly to the conservation of the central region.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Evolution of the cetacean mitochondrial D-loop region
Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.
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