Low Diversity and Divergence in the fil1 Gene Family of Antirrhinum (Scrophulariaceae)

Detailed nucleotide diversity studies revealed that the fil1 gene of Antirrhinum, which has been reported to be single copy, is a member of a gene family composed of at least five genes. In four Antirrhinum majus populations with different mating systems and one A. graniticum population, diversity within populations is very low. Divergence among Antirrhinum species and between Antirrhinum and Digitalis is also low. For three of these genes we also obtained sequences from a more divergent member of the Scrophulariaceae, Verbascum nigrum. Compared with Antirrhinum, little divergence is again observed. These results, together with similar data obtained previously for five cycloidea genes, suggest either that these gene families (or the Antirrhinum genome) are unusually constrained or that there is a low rate of substitution in these lineages. Using a sample of 52 genes, based on two measures of codon usage (ENC and GC3 content), we show that cyc and fil1 are among the least biased Antirrhinum genes, so that their low diversity is not due to extreme codon bias. Received: 20 June 2000 / Accepted: 25 October 2000