Evidence for recombination of mtDNA in the marine mussel Mytilus trossulus from the Baltic

A number of studies have claimed that recombination occurs in animal mtDNA, although this evidence is controversial. Ladoukakis and Zouros (2001) provided strong evidence for mtDNA recombination in the COIII gene in gonadal tissue in the marine mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis from the Black Sea. The recombinant molecules they reported had not however become established in the population from which experimental animals were sampled. In the present study, we provide further evidence of the generality of mtDNA recombination in Mytilus by reporting recombinant mtDNA molecules in a related mussel species, Mytilus trossulus, from the Baltic. The mtDNA region studied begins in the 16S rRNA gene and terminates in the cytochrome b gene and includes a major noncoding region that may be analogous to the D-loop region observed in other animals. Many bivalve species, including some Mytilus species, are unusual in that they have two mtDNA genomes, one of which is inherited maternally (F genome) the other inherited paternally (M genome). Two recombinant variants reported in the present study have population frequencies of 5% and 36% and appear to be mosaic for F-like and M-like sequences. However, both variants have the noncoding region from the M genome, and both are transmitted to sperm like the M genome. We speculate that acquisition of the noncoding region by the recombinant molecules has conferred a paternal role on mtDNA genomes that otherwise resemble the F genome in sequence.     

基于线粒体ND2基因的直翅目部分种类分子系统学发育研究

本文的研究目的是通过对直翅目部分种类的线粒体ND2基因进行分析,重建直翅目内部昆虫的系统发育关系,并探讨分子系统发育关系和传统分类结果的异同。基于80个物种ND2基因的研究结果显示直翅目ND2基因存在碱基偏向性A T含量平均为73%,第三位点A T含量79.9%最高,推测这与氨基酸变异有关。直翅目具有单系性,而蝗亚目内部的剑角蝗科、网翅蝗科、槌角蝗科和斑腿蝗科均不是单系群,锥头蝗科和瘤锥蝗科亲缘关系较近,这与Otte分类系统相一致,建议将锥头蝗科和瘤锥蝗科合并为一个科。癞蝗科的分类地位存在争议有待进一步深入的研究。     

Detecting hybrid speciation in the presence of incomplete lineage sorting using gene tree incongruence: A model

The application of phylogenetic inference methods, to data for a set of independent genes sampled randomly throughout the genome, often results in substantial incongruence in the single-gene phylogenetic estimates. Among the processes known to produce discord between single-gene phylogenies, two of the best studied in a phylogenetic context are hybridization and incomplete lineage sorting. Much recent attention has focused on the development of methods for estimating species phylogenies in the presence of incomplete lineage sorting, but phylogenetic models that allow for hybridization have been more limited. Here we propose a model that allows incongruence in single-gene phylogenies to be due to both hybridization and incomplete lineage sorting, with the goal of determining the contribution of hybridization to observed gene tree incongruence in the presence of incomplete lineage sorting. Using our model, we propose methods for estimating the extent of the role of hybridization in both a likelihood and a Bayesian framework. The performance of our methods is examined using both simulated and empirical data.     

人类线粒体DNA世系的系统发育关系研究

本文以人类线粒体DNA为例,回顾了其系统发育关系的重建的研究历史,进而总结介绍了该分析方法在人类进化历史研究、线粒体DNA数据质量评估以及疾病相关线粒体DNA突变的甄别等方面的应用,以期对该方法在国内的推广应用有所裨益。     

Phylogenetic relationships of Argentinean Creole horses and other South American and Spanish breeds inferred from mitochondrial DNA sequences

South American horses constitute a direct remnant of the Iberian horses brought to the New World by the Spanish conquerors. The source of the original horses was Spain, and it is generally assumed that the animals belonged to the Andalusian, Spanish Celtic, Barb or Arabian breeds. In order to establish the relationship between Argentinean and Spanish horses, a portion of the mitochondrial D-loop of 104 animals belonging to nine South American and Spanish breeds was analysed using SSCP and DNA sequencing. The variability found both within and between breeds was very high. There were 61 polymorphic positions, representing 16% of the total sequence obtained. The mean divergence between a pair of sequences was 2.8%. Argentinean Creole horses shared two haplotypes with the Peruvian Paso from Argentina, and the commonest haplotype of the Creole horses is identical to one of the Andalusian horses. Even when there was substantial subdivision between breeds with highly significant Wright's Fixation Index (FST), the parsimony and distance-based phylogenetic analyses failed to show monophyletic groups and there was no clear relationship in the trees between the South American and any of the other horses analysed. Although this result could be interpreted as mixed ancestry of the South American breeds with respect to the Spanish breeds, it is probably indicating the retention of very ancient maternal lineages in the breeds analysed.