Molecular Biology and Evolution, Vol 8, 796-818, Copyright © 1991 by Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution
R Highton
The bootstrapping method of determining confidence in the topology of
phylogenetic trees has been applied to electrophoretic protein data for two
groups of amphibians: salamanders of two North American genera (Aneides and
Plethodon) of the tribe Plethodontini and Holarctic hylid frogs. Some
current methods of phylogenetic reconstruction for electrophoretic protein
data have been evaluated by comparing the trees obtained from molecular
data sets with available morphological data. Molecular data on the
phylogenetic relationships of Aneides and Plethodon, data obtained from
electrophoretic and immunological studies, indicate that Aneides probably
was derived from western Plethodon subsequent to the separation of eastern
and western Plethodon. Thus Plethodon very likely is a paraphyletic genus.
The extremely low rate of morphological evolution in Plethodon compared
with that in Aneides causes difficulty in indicating their evolutionary
relationships taxonomically because there are no synapomorphic
morphological characters that define either eastern or western Plethodon,
whereas there are several for the genus Aneides. Thus molecular data alone
probably indicate the evolutionary relationships of the species in these
genera. Highton and Larson's (1979) arrangement of species of Plethodon
into eight species groups is supported. The topologies of the unweighted
pair-group method using arithmetic means (UPGMA) and distance Wagner trees
were compared with independent morphological and molecular data on the
relationships of the 28 plethodonine species. It was found that UPGMA trees
indicate relationships that are more in agreement with other information
than are those provided by distance Wagner trees. The use of the bootstrap
technique indicates that the topologies of UPGMA trees are better supported
statistically than are the topologies of distance Wagner trees. Moreover,
different addition criteria produce a variety of distance Wagner trees with
different topologies, each with several groupings that are not supported
statistically. It is concluded that considerable caution should be used in
interpreting the topology of distance Wagner trees. Very similar results
were obtained with a second data set on 30 taxa of Holarctic hylid frogs.
Trees obtained by the neighbor-joining method are more in agreement with
UPGMA phenograms and other data, so this method of phylogenetic
reconstruction may be useful to systematists not willing to assume constant
rates of evolution.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
REVIEW ARTICLE
Molecular phylogeny of plethodonine salamanders and hylid frogs: statistical analysis of protein comparisons
Department of Zoology, University of Maryland, College Park 20742.
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