Evolutionary rates of mitochondrial genomes correspond to diversification rates and to contemporary species richness in birds and reptiles
Rates of biological diversification should ultimately correspond to rates of genome evolution. Recent studies have compared diversification rates with phylogenetic branch lengths, but incomplete phylogenies hamper such analyses for many taxa. Herein, we use pairwise comparisons of confamilial saurop...
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Published in | Proceedings of the Royal Society. B, Biological sciences Vol. 277; no. 1700; pp. 3587 - 3592 |
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Main Authors | , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
England
The Royal Society
07.12.2010
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Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Rates of biological diversification should ultimately correspond to rates of genome evolution. Recent studies have compared diversification rates with phylogenetic branch lengths, but incomplete phylogenies hamper such analyses for many taxa. Herein, we use pairwise comparisons of confamilial sauropsid (bird and reptile) mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) genome sequences to estimate substitution rates. These molecular evolutionary rates are considered in light of the age and species richness of each taxonomic family, using a random-walk speciation–extinction process to estimate rates of diversification. We find the molecular clock ticks at disparate rates in different families and at different genes. For example, evolutionary rates are relatively fast in snakes and lizards, intermediate in crocodilians and slow in turtles and birds. There was also rate variation across genes, where non-synonymous substitution rates were fastest at ATP8 and slowest at CO3. Family-by-gene interactions were significant, indicating that local clocks vary substantially among sauropsids. Most importantly, we find evidence that mitochondrial genome evolutionary rates are positively correlated with speciation rates and with contemporary species richness. Nuclear sequences are poorly represented among reptiles, but the correlation between rates of molecular evolution and species diversification also extends to 18 avian nuclear genes we tested. Thus, the nuclear data buttress our mtDNA findings. |
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Bibliography: | ark:/67375/V84-2DH51396-H href:rspb20100965.pdf istex:44F5A576B2D802CBA1BF1A8A34B0DF5CD9DA7800 ArticleID:rspb20100965 ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 ObjectType-Article-2 ObjectType-Feature-1 |
ISSN: | 0962-8452 1471-2945 1471-2954 |
DOI: | 10.1098/rspb.2010.0965 |