分子进化研究中系统发生树的重建

在现代分子进化研究中,根据现有生物基因或物种多样性来重建生物的进化史是一个非常重要的问题。一个可靠的系统发生的推断,将揭示出有关生物进化过程的顺序,有助于我们了解生物进化的历史和进化机制。本文简要介绍了系统发生树推断的几个重要问题：建树方法、数据转换、树的可靠性及目前使用较多的几种分析软件。     

DNA分子进化的研究基础和策略

从研究方法和技术手段等方面讨论了分子进化研究上的一些重大问题．阐述了基因的基本结构及DNA分子的进化方式：净化选择、中性进化和分化选择。探讨了利用DNA分子进化数据构建系统树的原理,评价了NJ、UPGMAM、MP和ML4种算法在构建进化树时的合理性与不足,以及进化树可靠性检验的方法,并对未来分子进化生物学的发展加以展望。     

基于分子数据的系统发生树构建

系统发生学是研究生物类群间进化关系的学科。随着测序技术、分析方法和计算能力的改进,分子数据被广泛应用,促进了系统发生学的快速发展。系统发生树已成为生态学和比较生物学等研究领域的有力工具。然而,许多研究在进行系统发生树构建时更侧重各种软件的使用,一些基本原则或注意事项有时会被弱化甚至忽视。该文详细介绍了基于分子数据进行系统发生树构建的工作流程和基本方法,包括类群取样、分子标记选择、序列比对、分区及模型选择、序列联合分析以及拓扑结构检验等关键步骤。此外,该文还为系统发生树构建常用的3种方法(最大简约法、最大似然法和贝叶斯法)提供了相应的软件操作流程和运行命令,以期为相关研究提供参考。     

分子进化研究:Ⅰ.细胞色素C分子进化的模糊聚类分析法研究

本文在强调生物系统自身特点的基础上,针对分子进化本身所具有的模糊性,运用模糊聚类分析的原理和方法,就29种动物细胞色素c一级结构间的进化关系进行了研究,作出了相应的分子系统树并运用硬划分法对该树进行了修改。同时,与其它一些研究的结果进行了比较,讨论了在生物大分子一级结构间进行比较、分析的局限性和分子进化研究中的一些有待解决的问题。     

重建系统演化树的一种新方法--试错法

重建系统演化树是进化研究的一个极为重要的方面。系统树的构建依赖于一定的方法和数据。在分子系统演化研究中,所使用的数据大多是ＤＮＡ序列、氨基酸序列和分子标记。而就构树方法来说,ＮＪ法、ＭＬ法和ＭＰ法是三种最为普遍使用的方法。本文给出了一种新的建树方法,即试错法。该方法不但具有与ＮＪ法一样好的建树效果,而且不存在难以解释的负枝长问题。     

麝属分子系统进化地位的再分析

对麝Moschus spp.的分子系统进化地位进行了再研究.结果 表明,不同的基因及序列长度、分析中不同的物种数目、不同的分析方法对研究结果产生明显影响.在用线粒体Cyt b、16S rRNA基因及二者的连接序列分别构建的NJ、MP树中,都支持麝与鹿有更近的亲缘关系.在使用γ干扰素核基因的编码序列构建的NJ树中,显示麝与鹿也有较近的亲缘关系;而MP树则暗示麝与牛科有更近的亲缘关系.当选用包括林麝在内的18个物种,使用线粒体基因组重链上12个蛋白编码基因的核苷酸串连序列构建系统发生树时,在NJ、MP、ML和BI树中都支持麝与鹿有更近的亲缘关系,与选用23个物种得到的支持麝为鹿科/牛科二者共同姐妹群的结果存在明显差异.这可能是因为麝科与鹿科和牛科的亲缘关系较近,分歧时间较短,其分子片段所累积的进化信息较少,而且不同的分子片段进化速率不一致等造成的.因此,要彻底解决麝在偶蹄目中的进化地位必须要找到更适合的分子标记.     

啮齿目核糖酸酶5基因(RNase5)的分子进化

RNase5是RNASE A基因超家族中的一个重要成员,是分子进化研究的理想模型之一。基于基因组水平,我们对啮齿目的3个进化枝10科17个物种开展RNase5的分子进化研究。利用TBlastN及BlastN方法鉴定每个基因组的RNase5基因,发现该基因在啮齿目的Ctenohystrica所有物种发生丢失,时间是在Ctenohystrica形成之后;邻接法和最大似然法构建的系统发育树均支持RNase5在“与小家鼠相关的进化枝”的小家鼠、褐家鼠和拉布拉多白足鼠发生三次独立基因复制事件;利用PAML软件的枝模型、位点模型及枝-位点模型计算选择压力,均检测到RNase5基因受到强烈的正选择作用。总之,我们的研究深入系统开展了RNase5在啮齿目中的分子进化,增加了该基因研究的多样性,为进一步系统认识该基因在动物的适应性进化遗传机制奠定了基础。     

分子进化与系统树

生物在从低级向高级进化的同时,某些生物大分子也在进化。根据分子生物学资料可以构建同源分子的系统树。本文具体介绍了Fitch和Margoliash提出的系统树构建法,并对20种细胞色素c分子组成的系统树作了扼要说明。     

从氨基酸残基的静态可及性探讨组蛋白的分子进化

本文以蛋白质氨基酸残基的静态可及性为指标。分别探讨了Ｈ２Ａ、Ｈ２Ｂ、Ｈ３、Ｈ４这４种组蛋白分子的进化关系,并获得了Ｈ２Ａ、Ｈ２Ｂ和Ｈ３各自相应的分子系统树。该研究从分子进化的角度表明,在构成核小体的这４种组蛋白分子中,组蛋白Ｈ４的保守性最大。作者推测,与其他几种蛋白相比,在维持染色体的结构、功能以及在染色体的起源上,组蛋白Ｈ４可能具有最为重要的意义和作用。     

5_S rRNA分子进化的研究

截至目前为止,人们已测出了300余种5SrRNA分子的一级结构。本文在其中选择了具有代表性的脊椎动物、无脊椎动物、原生动物以及植物和细菌等共130个种的5SrRNA一级结构,通过运用分子进化研究中的“今祖法”,在TRS—80型微机上,进行了比较和计算,作出了相应的系统树,并得到了与其它一些研究结果基本一致的结论。同时,讨论了分子进化的研究本身以及“今祖法”在分子进化研究中的问题和局限性。     

A Primer to Molecular Phylogenetic Analysis in Plants

Reconstructing a tree of life by inferring evolutionary history is an important focus of evolutionary biology. Phylogenetic reconstructions also provide useful information for a range of scientific disciplines such as botany, zoology, phylogeography, archaeology and biological anthropology. Until the development of protein and DNA sequencing techniques in the 1960s and 1970s, phylogenetic reconstructions were based on fossil records and comparative morphological/physiological analyses. Since then, progress in molecular phylogenetics has compensated for some of the shortcomings of phenotype-based comparisons. Comparisons at the molecular level increase the accuracy of phylogenetic inference because there is no environmental influence on DNA/peptide sequences and evaluation of sequence similarity is not subjective. While the number of morphological/physiological characters that are sufficiently conserved for phylogenetic inference is limited, molecular data provide a large number of datapoints and enable comparisons from diverse taxa. Over the last 20 years, developments in molecular phylogenetics have greatly contributed to our understanding of plant evolutionary relationships. Regions in the plant nuclear and organellar genomes that are optimal for phylogenetic inference have been determined and recent advances in DNA sequencing techniques have enabled comparisons at the whole genome level. Sequences from the nuclear and organellar genomes of thousands of plant species are readily available in public databases, enabling researchers without access to molecular biology tools to investigate phylogenetic relationships by sequence comparisons using the appropriate nucleotide substitution models and tree building algorithms. In the present review, the statistical models and algorithms used to reconstruct phylogenetic trees are introduced and advances in the exploration and utilization of plant genomes for molecular phylogenetic analyses are discussed.     

period基因的Thr—Gly区段在果蝇和部分双翅目昆虫中的分子进化特征

以亲缘关系极近的近缘种类群、中等距离的远缘种类群为对象,分析生物钟基因period的Thr-Gly区段的分子进化特征,发现Thr-Gly区段在果蝇和部分双翅目昆虫中未曾经历性选择和其他定向的正选择。Thr-Gly区段在果蝇nasuta亚群中的分子进化速率为10.4×10     

Molecular Phylogenetic Positions and Ultrastructure of Marine Gregarines (Apicomplexa) Cuspisella ishikariensis n. gen., n. sp. and Loxomorpha cf. harmothoe from Western Pacific scaleworms (Polynoidae)

Marine gregarines are unicellular parasites of invertebrates commonly found infecting the intestine and coelomic spaces of their hosts. Situated at the base of the apicomplexan tree, marine gregarines offer an opportunity to explore the earliest stages of apicomplexan evolution. Classification of marine gregarines is often based on the morphological traits of the conspicuous feeding stages (trophozoites) in combination with host affiliation and molecular phylogenetic data. Morphological characters of other life stages such as the spore are also used to inform taxonomy when such stages can be found. The reconstruction of gregarine evolutionary history is challenging, due to high levels of intraspecific variation of morphological characters combined with relatively few traits that are taxonomically unambiguous. The current study combined morphological data with a phylogenetic analysis of small subunit rDNA sequences to describe and establish a new genus and species (Cuspisella ishikariensis n. gen., n. sp.) of marine gregarine isolated from the intestine of a polynoid host (Lepidonotus helotypus) collected from Hokkaido, Japan. This new species possesses a set of unusual morphological traits including a spiked attachment apparatus and sits on a long branch on the molecular phylogeny. Furthermore, this study establishes a molecular phylogenetic position for Loxomorpha cf. harmothoe, a previously described marine gregarine, and reveals a new group of gregarines that infect polynoid hosts.     

Tree imbalance causes a bias in phylogenetic estimation of evolutionary timescales using heterochronous sequences

Phylogenetic estimation of evolutionary timescales has become routine in biology, forming the basis of a wide range of evolutionary and ecological studies. However, there are various sources of bias that can affect these estimates. We investigated whether tree imbalance, a property that is commonly observed in phylogenetic trees, can lead to reduced accuracy or precision of phylogenetic timescale estimates. We analysed simulated data sets with calibrations at internal nodes and at the tips, taking into consideration different calibration schemes and levels of tree imbalance. We also investigated the effect of tree imbalance on two empirical data sets: mitogenomes from primates and serial samples of the African swine fever virus. In analyses calibrated using dated, heterochronous tips, we found that tree imbalance had a detrimental impact on precision and produced a bias in which the overall timescale was underestimated. A pronounced effect was observed in analyses with shallow calibrations. The greatest decreases in accuracy usually occurred in the age estimates for medium and deep nodes of the tree. In contrast, analyses calibrated at internal nodes did not display a reduction in estimation accuracy or precision due to tree imbalance. Our results suggest that molecular‐clock analyses can be improved by increasing taxon sampling, with the specific aims of including deeper calibrations, breaking up long branches and reducing tree imbalance.     

Phylogeny, host-parasite relationship and zoogeography

Phylogeny is the evolutionary history of a group or the lineage of organisms and is reconstructed based on morphological, molecular and other characteristics. The genealogical relationship of a group of taxa is often expressed as a phylogenetic tree. The difficulty in categorizing the phylogeny is mainly due to the existence of frequent homoplasies that deceive observers. At the present time, cladistic analysis is believed to be one of the most effective methods of reconstructing a phylogenetic tree. Excellent computer program software for phylogenetic analysis is available. As an example, cladistic analysis was applied for nematode genera of the family Acuariidae, and the phylogenetic tree formed was compared with the system used currently. Nematodes in the genera Nippostrongylus and Heligmonoides were also analyzed, and the validity of the reconstructed phylogenetic trees was observed from a zoogeographical point of view. Some of the theories of parasite evolution were briefly reviewed as well. Coevolution of parasites and humans was discussed with special reference to the evolutionary relationship between Enterobius and primates.     

主流分子钟定年方法的原理、误差来源和使用建议

近年来, 分子钟定年方法(molecular dating methods)得以广泛运用, 为宏观进化研究尤其是生物多样性及其格局形成历史的相关研究提供了不可或缺且十分详尽的进化时间框架。贝叶斯方法(Bayesian methods)和马尔可夫链蒙特卡罗方法 (Markov chain Monte Carlo)可容纳多维度、多类型的数据和参数设置, 因此以BEAST、PAML-MCMCTree等软件为代表的贝叶斯节点标记法(Bayesian node-dating methods)逐渐成为分子钟定年方法中最为广泛使用的类型。贝叶斯框架的优势之一在于其可以利用复杂模型考虑各种不确定性因素, 但是该类方法中各类模型和参数的设置都可能引入误差, 从而影响进化分化时间估算的可靠性。本文介绍了贝叶斯分子钟定年方法的原理和主要类型, 并以贝叶斯节点标记法为例, 重点讨论了分子钟模型、化石标记的选择与放置、采样频率及化石标记点年龄先验分布等因素对节点定年的影响; 提供了贝叶斯时间树构建软件的使用建议、节点年龄的讨论原则和不同模型下时间树的比较方法, 针对常见的引起节点年龄潜在高估和低估风险的情况作了分析并给出了合理化建议。我们认为, 合理整合多种贝叶斯方法和模型得出的结果并从中择优, 能够提高定年结果的可靠性; 研究人员应对时间树构建结果与其参数设置的关系开展讨论, 从而为其他学者提供参考; 化石记录的更新与分子钟定年方法的改进应同步不断跟进。     

Testing the relationship between morphological and molecular rates of change along phylogenies

Abstract.— Molecular evolution has been considered to be essentially a stochastic process, little influenced by the pace of phenotypic change. This assumption was challenged by a study that demonstrated an association between rates of morphological and molecular change estimated for "total-evidence" phylogenies, a finding that led some researchers to challenge molecular date estimates of major evolutionary radiations. Here we show that Omland's (1997) result is probably due to methodological bias, particularly phylogenetic nonindependence, rather than being indicative of an underlying evolutionary phenomenon. We apply three new methods specifically designed to overcome phylogenetic bias to 13 published phylogenetic datasets for vertebrate taxa, each of which includes both morphological characters and DNA sequence data. We find no evidence of an association between rates of molecular and morphological rates of change.     

New molecular data for tardigrade phylogeny, with the erection of Paramacrobiotus gen. nov.

Up to few years ago, the phylogenies of tardigrade taxa have been investigated using morphological data, but relationships within and between many taxa are still unresolved. Our aim has been to verify those relationships adding molecular analysis to morphological analysis, using nearly complete 18S ribosomal DNA gene sequences (five new) of 19 species, as well as cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (COI) mitochondrial DNA gene sequences (15 new) from 20 species, from a total of seven families. The 18S rDNA tree was calculated by minimum evolution, maximum parsimony (MP) and maximum likelihood (ML) analyses. DNA sequences coding for COI were translated to amino acid sequences and a tree was also calculated by neighbour-joining, MP and ML analyses. For both trees (18S rDNA and COI) posterior probabilities were calculated by MrBayes. Prominent findings are as follows: the molecular data on Echiniscidae (Heterotardigrada) are in line with the phylogenetic relationships identifiable by morphological analysis. Among Eutardigrada, orders Apochela and Parachela are confirmed as sister groups. Ramazzottius (Hypsibiidae) results more related to Macrobiotidae than to the genera here considered of Hypsibiidae. Macrobiotidae and Macrobiotus result not monophyletic and confirm morphological data on the presence of at least two large groups within Macrobiotus. Using 18S rDNA and COI mtDNA genes, a new phylogenetic line has been identified within Macrobiotus , corresponding to the ' richtersi-areolatus group'. Moreover, cryptic species have been identified within the Macrobiotus ' richtersi group' and within Richtersius . Some evolutionary lines of tardigrades are confirmed, but others suggest taxonomic revision. In particular, the new genus Paramacrobiotus gen. n. has been identified, corresponding to the phylogenetic line represented by the ' richtersi-areolatus group'.