暗纹东方鲀线粒体基因组核苷酸全序列测定与分析

以暗纹东方鲀(Takifugu fasciatus)肝的线粒体DNA为模板,参照红鳍东方鲀(T.rubripes)等近源鱼类的线粒体基因组DNA序列,设计合成14对特异引物,进行PCR扩增并测序,首次获得了暗纹东方鲀线粒体基因组全序列。结果表明,暗纹东方鲀线粒体基因组序列全长16 444 bp(GenBank登录号为GQ409967),A+T含量为55.8%,其mtDNA结构与其他脊椎动物相似,由22个tRNA基因、2个rRNA基因、13个蛋白质编码基因和1段819 bp非编码的控制区(D-loop)所组成。蛋白质基因除COⅠ和ND6的起始密码子为GTG、CCT以外,均为典型的起始密码子ATG。ND1、ATPase8、COⅢ、ND4L、ND5、Cyt b使用典型的终止密码子TAA,其他的使用不完全终止密码子。除ND6和tRNAGln、tRNAAla、tRNAAsn、tRNACys、tRNATyr、tRNASer、tRNAGlu、tRNAPro在L-链上编码之外,其余基因均在H-链编码。基因排列顺序与已测定的鲀类一致,这显示了鲀类线粒体基因排列顺序上的保守性。tRNA基因核苷酸长度为64～73nt,预测了22个tRNA基因的二级结构,均呈较为典型的三叶草状。基于19种鲀类mtDNA全序列构建的进化树表明,暗纹东方鲀与红鳍东方鲀、中华东方鲀(T.chinensis)聚成一个姊妹群。结果还支持东方鲀属鱼类为一单系类群。     

东方鲀生长激素基因3'-UTR多态性分析

以暗纹东方鲀（Takifugu. Obscurus）、红鳍东方鲀（Takifugu. Rubripes）、星点东方鲀（Takifugu. niphobles）共82个个体为对象,运用单链构向多态性（SSCP）技术和测序技术分析生长激素（Growth Hormone,GH）基因3＇非翻译区的多态性.结果表明3个群体中3＇非翻译区存在两种长度多态性,分别为320bp和317bp,与GenBank（登录号为：FRU63807）的序列（316bp）有差异;共检测到6种基因型,分别命名为aa、bb、ab、bc、cd、dd,变异频率达4.36%,其中在暗纹东方鲀中检测到四种aa、bb、ab、bc,cd和dd基因型分别只在于星点东方鲀和红鳍东方鲀检测到;7个突变位点中有1处颠换即位点212（T→G）,6处转换即位点120、180、227、265、287（C→T）和位点199（A→G）.     

中国黄粉蝶亚科六属间基于COⅡ和EF-1α基因部分序列的系统发育关系（鳞翅目：粉蝶科）

为了探讨中国黄粉蝶亚科属间的系统发育关系,我们对其中6属9种的细胞色素氧化酶Ⅱ（COⅡ）的部分序列和延伸因子基因（EF-1α）部分序列进行了分析。分别采用最大简约法（maximum parsimony, MP）、最大似然法（maximum likelihood, ML）和贝叶斯推论法（bayesian inference, BI）构建黄粉蝶亚科分子系统树。结果表明：在测得的COⅡ基因的648 bp序列和EF-1α基因的504 bp序列中,有261个变异位点,151个简约信息位点,黄粉蝶亚科内各属COⅡ基因A+T含量（77.3%）均明显偏高。系统发育分析显示黄粉蝶属为亚科中较为原始的类群,分化较早,豆粉蝶属和迁粉蝶属亲缘关系较近,但钩粉蝶属与豆粉蝶属、迁粉蝶属之间的亲缘关系还不能确定。本研究结果和传统的基于形态学的黄粉蝶亚科的分类体系有所不同,最显著的分歧是本研究支持内群中分化最早的属应为黄粉蝶属,而不是豆粉蝶属和迁粉蝶属。     

基于线粒体COⅠ基因的沙鳅亚科鱼类DNA条形码及其分子系统发育研究

选择线粒体COⅠ基因作为分子标记,进行沙鳅亚科鱼类（Botiinae）DNA条形码及其分子系统发育研究。研究获得了沙鳅亚科7属19种共131个个体的COⅠ基因序列,利用MEGA5.0软件分析了沙鳅亚科鱼类COⅠ基因的序列特征,计算了种内及种间遗传距离。沙鳅亚科鱼类的分子系统发育关系的重建分别采用NJ法和Bayesian法。研究发现,沙鳅亚科COⅠ基因的碱基组成为: A 24.4%、T 29.5%、G 18.0%、C 28.1%。沙鳅亚科鱼类种内平均遗传距离为0.0020.000,种间平均遗传距离为0.1480.008。DNA条形码研究结果显示,所分析的19种沙鳅鱼类各自分别聚成单系分支,表明COⅠ基因在本研究中具有100%的物种鉴别率。同时,系统发育分析支持各属的单系性,并且结果显示沙鳅亚科鱼类聚为两个分支,其中一支由薄鳅属和副沙鳅属构成,另一分支则包括: （沙鳅属、色鳅属）和 中华沙鳅属、（缨须鳅属、安彦鳅属）。因此,COⅠ基因可以作为有效的分子标记对沙鳅亚科进行DNA条形码研究以及分子系统发育研究。       

4种河鲀全基因组微卫星分布特征分析

本研究利用MISA软件对四种河鲀全基因组中的微卫星进行筛选并分析.结果如下:在红鳍东方鲀(Takifugu rubripes)(391.49 Mb)、菊黄东方鲀(T.flavidus)(366.29 Mb)、双斑东方鲀(T.bimaculatus)(371.68 Mb)及黑青斑河鲀(Tetraodon nigroviridis)(342.40 Mb)全基因组中,分别筛选出142 885个、135 009个、147 549个和179 703个完整型微卫星.相对丰度分别为365个/Mb,369个/Mb,397个/Mb和525个/Mb.微卫星总长度分别为2 876 322 bp,2 689 710 bp,3 140 445 bp 和3 615 069 bp,分别占基因组序列总长度的0.73％,0.73％,0.84％和1.06％.在1～6个不同碱基重复类型完整型微卫星中,四种河鲀的6种碱基类型数目排序是一致的.均是单碱基重复数目最多,然后依次是二碱基、三碱基、四碱基、五碱基和六碱基.其中AC,A,C,AG,AGG,AT,AAT和AAC是四种河鲀共有的常见核心重复类别.东方鲀属(Takifugu)三种河鲀基因组微卫星分布特征极为相似,分析红鳍东方鲀和双斑东方鲀的遗传距离可能更为接近.鲀属(Tetraodon)黑青斑河鲀与其他三种东方鲀属河鲀除部分微卫星特征相似外,在微卫星总数、微卫星相对丰度和密度、部分碱基类型数目及类别方面和东方鲀属差距较大.这可能与两属鱼类地理分布及进行滑动复制的碱基组成有关,推测东方鲀属和鲀属基因组可能具有独特的进化机制.本研究为多种河鲀基因组特征分析、多种河鲀微卫星引物设计、不同属种河鲀遗传距离及亲缘关系的探究等奠定了基础.     

基于16S rRNA和Cyt b基因序列的鰶亚科系统发育研究

对鰶亚科4属5种鱼类的线粒体基因组16S rRNA和Cyt b基因片段序列进行序列比较和系统发育关系分析。结果显示:5种鰶亚科鱼类的16S rRNA和Cy tb基因片段同源序列长度分别为525 bp和402 bp,序列联合后的序列总长度为927 bp,其中多态位点178个,简约信息位点123个。选取太平洋鲱Clupea pallasii和大西洋鲱C.harengus为外类群,采用邻接法(NJ)、最大简约法(MP)、最大似然法(ML)和贝叶斯法(BI)分别对2个基因片段序列进行了聚类分析,并联合2个基因片段利用邻接法、最大简约法和贝叶斯法进行分析。系统发育分析显示:斑鰶Konosirus punctatus与花鰶Clupanodon thriss亲缘关系最近,分布于美洲大陆的真鰶属Dorosoma鱼类与印度洋、太平洋分布的斑鰶属、花鰶属和海鰶属Nematalosa鱼类亲缘关系较远。     

基于线粒体和核基因序列的蜜蜂属系统发育分析

文章测定了中国分布的蜜蜂属(Apis)5种蜜蜂22个样本的线粒体基因ND2、CO2、16S rRNA以及核基因ITPR的序列,对序列的碱基组成和蜜蜂种间的遗传距离进行了分析。结合下载的蜜蜂属其他4个种的相关序列,采用最大简约法、邻接法和最大似然法重建了蜜蜂属系统发育关系。系统发育分析结果支持蜜蜂属划分为3个类群,即小蜜蜂类群(包括小蜜蜂和黑小蜜蜂)、大蜜蜂类群(包括大蜜蜂和黑大蜜蜂)和穴居蜜蜂类群(西方蜜蜂、东方蜜蜂、沙巴蜂、苏拉威西蜂、绿努蜂),且小蜜蜂类群较早分化。结果还显示,我国海南岛的大蜜蜂和大陆的大蜜蜂之间可能存在较大的遗传分歧。     

用mtDNA 12S rRNA序列变异检验鲤形目鱼类系统发育关系

通过对鲤形目鱼类5个科的代表类群的完整线粒体12S rRNA进行测序和分析,以检验目前的形态学假说。经序列比对后,有1000个位点,其中467个位点在茎区,533个在环区;有395个位点为变化位点,其中267个为系统发育信息位点。采用邻接法和最大简约法进行了系统发育分析,其结果支持鲤科鱼类成为一个单系群,非鲤科的鲤形目鱼类成为另一个单系群的观点,这与Siebert提出的假说相一致。鲤科鱼类包含3个主要的分支,即鱼丹系、鲤系和雅罗鱼系;但在非鲤科鲤形目鱼类中,其关系不能得到很好的解决,其中鳅科是复系,平鳍鳅科、条鳅亚科和花鳅亚科可能有较近的亲缘关系。     

五种鲟鱼线粒体控制区异质性和系统发育分析

利用保守引物得到五种鲟鱼的线粒体DNA（mtDNA）控制区（D-loop）全长,长度在795~813 bp。序列中包括了CBS（conserved sequence block）和TAS（termination-associated sequence）区域。利用最大似然法、最大简约法和贝叶斯法构建了系统发育树,发育树分成两枝,呈现明显的生物地理分布。分析表明,现有的鳇属鱼类不是单系群起源。五种鲟鱼D-loop序列都存在长度和数目不等串联重复序列,长度在78~82 bp之间,重复序列拷贝数在4~6次不等,因此造成了mtDNA广泛的异质性现象。不同种类的重复序列单元十分相似,达氏鳇和史氏鲟重复序列单元相似度为82.93%,西伯利亚鲟和俄罗斯鲟重复序列单元相似度为90.59%。在串联重复序列后是一段不完全重复序列。通过与已有同种的重复序列比对发现不同鲟鱼重复序列相同,不同地理区域相同物种的重复序列可能发生过分子内重组。这些表明重复序列在鲟鱼进化上具有相关意义,推测重复序列可能产生在种分化前,重组发生在种分化后。     

中国鲿科鱼类线粒体DNA控制区结构及其系统发育分析

采用PCR技术获得了中国鲿科鱼类代表种类线粒体DNA控制区基因的全序列,对控制区基因结构进行了分析,并选用粒鲇科的中华粒鲇,鮡科的三线纹胸鮡作为外类群,用最大简约法(MP)和邻接法(NJ)构建了系统发育树。结果显示鲿科鱼类中控制区基因适于系统发育分析,鲿科鱼类构成一个单系类群;圆尾拟鲿应该放入鮠属里。     

Ceratomyxa (Myxozoa: Bivalvulida): Robust taxon or genus of convenience?

The genus Ceratomyxa (Myxozoa: Myxosporea: Bivalvulida) contains parasites that typically infect the gall bladders of marine teleosts. Species of this genus have also been recorded from elasmobranchs, while the best known species (Ceratomyxa shasta) is a systemic pathogen of fresh water salmonid fishes. Here we characterise 10 new species of Ceratomyxa from marine teleosts using morphometric and rDNA sequence data. A phylogeny of all Ceratomyxa species for which ssrDNA sequence is available was estimated by parsimony, maximum likelihood and Bayesian analyses. Mapping host fish taxonomy, geographic locality and morphology onto the phylogenetic tree provided some concordance of these characters to groups of Ceratomyxa species, but in no case was it consistent throughout the inferred phylogeny. The position of C. shasta as a sister species to the Ceratomyxa clade contradicts previous estimates of marine myxozoan phylogeny which suggested C. shasta was an unrelated lineage. Comparative DNA sequence data is available for more than 17% of some 200 described Ceratomyxa species and the genus now represents one of the most cohesive lineages within the Myxozoa. The independent branching of all atypical Ceratomyxa species and Palliatus indecorus, indicates a review of the diagnostic characters and possible division into more genera is warranted when further data are available.     

Historical biogeography of the catfish genus Hypostomus (Siluriformes: Loricariidae), with implications on the diversification of Neotropical ichthyofauna

Tropical South America possesses the largest ichthyofauna of any continental region. To test whether palaeohydrological changes may have been the causes of such diversification, the 'hydrogeological' hypothesis, the phylogenetic relationships of 51 representatives of the catfish genus Hypostomus (Siluriformes: Loricariidae) were inferred using mitochondrial D-loop haplotype sequences. Specimens were collected in all main tropical South American rivers systems east to the Andes. The major interrelationships found with the D-loop data were confirmed with a subset of 21 species using complete internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region sequences. The phylogenetic analysis indicate that the genus Hypostomus can be divided into four monophyletic clades. The historical biogeographical analysis of each of these clades allows the identification of seven major cladogenetic events. Using calibrated D-loop and ITS molecular clocks, date estimations were attributed to each of these cladogenetic events allowing a linkage between four of them with documented hydrogeological changes. Comparisons with published distribution patterns of unrelated fish groups indicate that several of the reconstructed and dated hydrogeological-cladogenetic events may have acted at a large scale on the diversification of Neotropical freshwater fish fauna during late Tertiary.     

Mitochondrial phylogeny of the Chrysisignita (Hymenoptera: Chrysididae) species group based on simultaneous Bayesian alignment and phylogeny reconstruction

The ignita species group within the genus Chrysis includes over 100 cuckoo wasp species, which all lead a parasitic lifestyle and exhibit very similar morphology. The lack of robust, diagnostic morphological characters has hindered phylogenetic reconstructions and contributed to frequent misidentification and inconsistent interpretations of species in this group. Therefore, molecular phylogenetic analysis is the most suitable approach for resolving the phylogeny and taxonomy of this group. We present a well-resolved phylogeny of the Chrysis ignita species group based on mitochondrial sequence data from 41 ingroup and six outgroup taxa. Although our emphasis was on European taxa, we included samples from most of the distribution range of the C. ignita species group to test for monophyly. We used a continuous mitochondrial DNA sequence consisting of 16S rRNA, tRNA(Val), 12S rRNA and ND4. The location of the ND4 gene at the 3' end of this continuous sequence, following 12S rRNA, represents a novel mitochondrial gene arrangement for insects. Due to difficulties in aligning rRNA genes, two different Bayesian approaches were employed to reconstruct phylogeny: (1) using a reduced data matrix including only those positions that could be aligned with confidence; or (2) using the full sequence dataset while estimating alignment and phylogeny simultaneously. In addition maximum-parsimony and maximum-likelihood analyses were performed to test the robustness of the Bayesian approaches. Although all approaches yielded trees with similar topology, considerably more nodes were resolved with analyses using the full data matrix. Phylogenetic analysis supported the monophyly of the C. ignita species group and divided its species into well-supported clades. The resultant phylogeny was only partly in accordance with published subgroupings based on morphology. Our results suggest that several taxa currently treated as subspecies or names treated as synonyms may in fact constitute separate species. Our study provides a solid basis for further systematic investigations of this enigmatic insect group.     

Sciurid phylogeny and the paraphyly of Holarctic ground squirrels (Spermophilus)

The squirrel family, Sciuridae, is one of the largest and most widely dispersed families of mammals. In spite of the wide distribution and conspicuousness of this group, phylogenetic relationships remain poorly understood. We used DNA sequence data from the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene of 114 species in 21 genera to infer phylogenetic relationships among sciurids based on maximum parsimony and Bayesian phylogenetic methods. Although we evaluated more complex alternative models of nucleotide substitution to reconstruct Bayesian phylogenies, none provided a better fit to the data than the GTR+G+I model. We used the reconstructed phylogenies to evaluate the current taxonomy of the Sciuridae. At essentially all levels of relationships, we found the phylogeny of squirrels to be in substantial conflict with the current taxonomy. At the highest level, the flying squirrels do not represent a basal divergence, and the current division of Sciuridae into two subfamilies is therefore not phylogenetically informative. At the tribal level, the Neotropical pygmy squirrel, Sciurillus, represents a basal divergence and is not closely related to the other members of the tribe Sciurini. At the genus level, the sciurine genus Sciurus is paraphyletic with respect to the dwarf squirrels (Microsciurus), and the Holarctic ground squirrels (Spermophilus) are paraphyletic with respect to antelope squirrels (Ammospermophilus), prairie dogs (Cynomys), and marmots (Marmota). Finally, several species of chipmunks and Holarctic ground squirrels do not appear monophyletic, indicating a need for reevaluation of alpha taxonomy.     

分子系统进化关系分析的一种新方法--贝叶斯法在硬蜱属中的应用

距离矩阵邻接法、最大简约法和最大似然法是重建生物系统关系的3种主要方法。普遍认为最大似然法在原理上优于前二种方法，但其计算复杂费时。由于现行计算机的能力尚达不到其要求而实用性差，特别是在处理大数据集样本(即大于25个分类单元)时，用此方法几乎不可能。新近提出的贝叶斯法(Bayesianmethod)既保留了最大似然法的基本原理，又引进了马尔科夫链的蒙特卡洛方法，并使计算时间大大缩短。本文用贝叶斯法对硬蜱属(Ixodes)19个种的线粒体16S rDNA片段进行了系统进化分析。从总体上看，分析结果与现有的基于形态学的分类体系基本吻合。但与现存的假说相反，莱姆病的主要宿主蓖籽硬蜱复合种组并非单系。通过比较贝叶斯法与其它三种方法的结果，我们认为贝叶斯法是一种系统进化分析的好方法，它既能根据分子进化的现有理论和各种模型用概率重建系统进化关系，又克服了最大似然法计算速度慢、不适用于大数据集样本的缺陷。贝叶斯法根据后验概率直观地表示系统进化关系的分析结果，不需要用自引导法进行检验。可以预料，贝叶斯法将会被广泛地应用到系统进化分析上[动物学报49(3)：380—388，2003]。     

Biogeography and evolution of flower color in Veratrum (Melanthiaceae) through inference of a phylogeny based on multiple DNA markers

Veratrum (Melanthiaceae) comprises ca. 27 species with highly variable morphology. This study aims to construct the molecular phylogeny of this genus to infer its floral evolution and historical biogeography, which have not been examined in detail before. Maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian analyses were performed on the separate and combined ITS, trnL-F, and atpB-rbcL sequences to reconstruct the phylogenetic tree of the genus. All Veratrum taxa formed a monophyletic group, within which two distinct clades were distinguished: species with white-to-green perianth formed one highly supported clade, and the species with black-purple perianth constituted another highly supported clade. Phylogenetic inference on flower color evolution suggested that white-to-green perianth was a plesiomorphic state and black-purple perianth was apomorphic for Veratrum. When species distribution areas were traced as a multi-state character, parsimonious optimization inferred that Veratrum possibly originated in East Asia. Our study confirmed previous phylogenetic and taxonomic suggestions on this genus and provided a typical example of plant radiation across the Northern Hemisphere.     

Effects of sequence alignment and structural domains of ribosomal DNA on phylogeny reconstruction for the protozoan family sarcocystidae

Finding correct species relationships using phylogeny reconstruction based on molecular data is dependent on several empirical and technical factors. These include the choice of DNA sequence from which phylogeny is to be inferred, the establishment of character homology within a sequence alignment, and the phylogeny algorithm used. Nevertheless, sequencing and phylogeny tools provide a way of testing certain hypotheses regarding the relationship among the organisms for which phenotypic characters demonstrate conflicting evolutionary information. The protozoan family Sarcocystidae is one such group for which molecular data have been applied phylogenetically to resolve questionable relationships. However, analyses carried out to date, particularly based on small-subunit ribosomal DNA, have not resolved all of the relationships within this family. Analysis of more than one gene is necessary in order to obtain a robust species signal, and some DNA sequences may not be appropriate in terms of their phylogenetic information content. With this in mind, we tested the informativeness of our chosen molecule, the large-subunit ribosomal DNA (lsu rDNA), by using subdivisions of the sequence in phylogenetic analysis through PAUP, fastDNAml, and neighbor joining. The segments of sequence applied correspond to areas of higher nucleotide variation in a secondary-structure alignment involving 21 taxa. We found that subdivision of the entire lsu rDNA is inappropriate for phylogenetic analysis of the Sarcocystidae. There are limited informative nucleotide sites in the lsu rDNA for certain clades, such as the one encompassing the subfamily Toxoplasmatinae. Consequently, the removal of any segment of the alignment compromises the final tree topology. We also tested the effect of using two different alignment procedures (CLUSTAL W and the structure alignment using DCSE) and three different tree-building methods on the final tree topology. This work shows that congruence between different methods in the formation of clades may be a feature of robust topology; however, a sequence alignment based on primary structure may not be comparing homologous nucleotides even though the expected topology is obtained. Our results support previous findings showing the paraphyly of the current genera Sarcocystis and Hammondia and again bring to question the relationships of Sarcocystis muris, Isospora felis, and Neospora caninum. In addition, results based on phylogenetic analysis of the structure alignment suggest that Sarcocystis zamani and Sarcocystis singaporensis, which have reptilian definitive hosts, are monophyletic with Sarcocystis species using mammalian definitive hosts if the genus Frenkelia is synonymized with Sarcocystis.     

太湖新银鱼线粒体D-loop和Cytb片段序列结构与进化速率比较

共获得49个太湖新银鱼(Neosalanx taihuensis)个体的线粒体细胞色素b(Cyt b)全序列和控制区(D-loop)部分序列。所测线粒体D-loop部分序列长度变化范围为648～680bp,识别到位于前端的一个串联重复序列、一个终止相关序列(ETAS),3个中央保守区保守序列(CSB-F、CSB-E、CSB-D)及一个保守序列区保守序列(CSB-1),结构与其他鱼类的研究结果类似。太湖新银鱼线粒体Cyt b和D-loop片段的相对进化速率的比较研究结果表明,太湖新银鱼D-loop总的序列多态性位点的比例为0.83%,低于线粒体Cyt b部分总的序列多态性位点的比例(1.31%)。假设太湖新银鱼Cyt b基因平均进化速率相对值为1,贝叶斯(Bayes)MCMC模拟给出Cyt b基因的相对速率区间估计为1.000±0.131,而D-loop基因的相对速率为0.859±0.261,表明太湖新银鱼D-loop基因的进化速率低于Cyt b基因,同时,后验概率分布的变异方差也比较大。说明Cyt b基因比D-loop基因具有相对较高的进化速率,也相对更接近分子钟假设。因此,可以认为Cyt b基因比D-loop基因更适于太湖新银鱼种内及近缘种间相关分子生态及系统地理格局的研究。     

Phylogeny of the Nemertodermatida (Acoelomorpha, Platyhelminthes). A cladistic analysis

The Nemertodermatida is a small group of worms, regarded as an order of the Platyhelminthes. The group is of special systematic interest because of its putative basal phylogenetic position in the Platyhelminthes. The phylogeny of the Nemertodermatida was estimated using paup 4.0 software for parsimony analysis. The analysis was based on 72 structural parsimony-informative characters totalling 184 different character states. All eight well described species of nemertodermatids were included in the ingroup. As outgroup were chosen species of the Acoela, Catenulida, Macrostomida and Xenoturbellida. A single most parsimonious tree was obtained with 140 steps and a consistency index (CI) of 0.80. The Nemertodermatida, Ascoparidae and Nemertodermatidae are shown as monophyletic taxa in the tree. The species Nemertoderma psammicola does not group with the other members of the genus Nemertoderma , hence criteria of phylogenetic taxonomy imply that N. psammicola should be renamed. A suggested new name is Sterreria psammicola gen. n .     

Phylogeny of the mud worm genus Marenzelleria (Polychaeta, Spionidae) inferred from mitochondrial DNA sequences

The taxonomy of the cryptic morphospecies of the mud worm genus Marenzelleria is particularly difficult and the phylogenetic relationship within the genus is unknown. Herein we reconstructed the phylogeny of all five species of this genus using sequence data of three mitochondrial genes (16SrDNA, cytochrome b, cytochrome oxidase subunit I) from 104 specimens out of 26 populations. For the three invasive species of the genus, Marenzelleria neglecta, M. viridis and M. arctia , individuals from native populations as well as from recently invaded populations were included. Nuclear 18S rDNA sequences were used to evaluate the appropriate outgroup taxon among several spionid polychaete species. The results supported the monophyly of Marenzelleria , and Malacoceros fuliginosus was found to be a suitable outgroup for the analysis of the mitochondrial gene segments. All phylogenetic reconstructions revealed a basal position of M. arctia and M. wireni , which have primarily Arctic distribution, with M. arctia obtaining the most basal position. Together with the present-day distribution of the species, this indicates an origin of the genus in the Arctic region. The relationship of the species M. neglecta , M. viridis and M. bastropi could not be resolved sufficiently due to genealogical discordance that might reflect relatively young cladogenetic events.