Molecular phylogeny and evolution of primate mitochondrial DNA

We determined nucleotide sequences of homologous 0.9-kb fragments ofmitochondrial DNAs (mtDNAs) derived from four species of old-world monkeys,one species of new-world monkeys, and two species of prosimians. With thesenucleotide sequences and homologous sequences for five species ofhominoids, we constructed a phylogenetic tree for the four groups ofprimates. The phylogeny obtained is generally consistent with evolutionarytrees constructed in previous studies. Our results also suggest that therate of nucleotide substitution for mtDNAs in hominines (human, chimpanzee,and gorilla) may have slowed down compared with that for old-world monkeys.This evolutionary feature of mitochondrial genes is similar to one found innuclear genes.