Work

Two novel gene orders and the role of light-strand replication in rearrangement of the vertebrate mitochondrial genome

Year: 1997

Type: article

Abstract: Two novel mitochondrial gene arrangements are identified in an agamid lizard and a ranid frog. Statistical tests incorporating phylogeny indicate a link between novel vertebrate mitochondrial gene orders and movement of the origin of light-strand replication. A mechanism involving errors in light-strand replication and tandem duplication of genes is proposed for rearrangement of vertebrate mitochondrial genes. A second mechanism involving small direct repeats also is identified. These mechanisms implicate gene order as a reliable phylogenetic character. Shifts in gene order define major lineages without evidence of parallelism or reversal. The loss of the origin of light-strand replication from its typical vertebrate position evolves in parallel and, therefore, is a less reliable phylogenetic character. Gene junctions also evolve in parallel. Sequencing across multigenic regions, in particular transfer RNA genes, should be a major focus of future systematic studies to locate novel gene orders and to provide a better understanding of the evolution of the vertebrate mitochondrial genome.

Source: Molecular Biology and Evolution

DOI: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.molbev.a025706

Authors: J. R. Macey, A. Larson, N. B. Ananjeva, Z. Fang, T. J. Papenfuss

Institutions: Washington University in St. Louis, Russian Academy of Sciences, Zoological Institute, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley

Language: English

Topic: Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies

Subfield: Molecular Biology

Field: Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: bronze

Funders: National Science Foundation, National Geographic Society

Award: A Molecular Phylogenetic Perspective on Salamander Evolution