Modern evolution of a single-copy gene: the immunoglobulin C kappa locus in wild mice

The immunoglobulin kappa light-chain constant region gene (C kappa) hasbeen cloned and sequenced from five wild mouse species. Analysis of thesedata has permitted an assessment of single-copy gene evolution during alimited time period as defined by the genus Mus. Sequence conservation wasfound to be as high (or higher) in the 5' and enhancer regions as in thecoding region. The pattern of substitutions throughout these genes suggeststhat parallel evolution has occurred frequently and that substitutions atreplacement sites have not decreased significantly, owing to saturationduring this period of approximately 10 Myr. Phylogenetic relationships havebeen determined among these wild species as well as among members of thegenus Rattus.