基于13 个内含子的序列探讨鲸目的系统发育关系

本文基于实验室筛选得到的13 对内含子标记,在鲸偶蹄目的15 个物种中进行有效扩增,并重建了这15
个物种的系统发育关系。结果表明,抹香鲸总科(Physeteroidea) 位于齿鲸亚目(Odontoceti)的基部,从而支
持了传统的齿鲸亚目的单系性。在海豚总科(Delphinoidea)内部,贝斯分析结果支持了鼠海豚科(Phocoenidae)
和一角鲸科(Monodontidae)的姐妹群关系,而后再与海豚科(Delphinidae)相聚。系统发育分析同时还
强烈支持了海豚科的四个属(Sousa,Tursiops,Stenella,Delphinus)组成一个单系的“复合体”。另外,我们的分
析结果并不支持瓶鼻海豚属(Tursiops)和原海豚属(Stenella)的单系性。基于松散分子钟的分歧时间估算与以
往文献中的结果没有明显差异。这些研究结果提示,核基因内含子序列有希望解决一些长期存在的鲸类系统发
育问题。

Molecular phylogenetics of cetaceans: an insight from 13 nuclear intron sequences

Sequences of 13 introns from 15 Cetartiodactyla species were determined to reveal the phylogeny of cetaceans.Our results support the monophyly of the traditionally accepted suborder Odontoceti ( toothed whales ), placing the dwarf sperm whale ( Kogia sima), a representative species of superfamily Physeteroidea, as sister to other toothed whales. Within the superfamily Delphinoidea, phylogenetic analyses identified a sister relationship between Delphinidae and Monodontidae + Phocoenidae. A close relationship among four genera ( Sousa, Tursiops, Stenella, and Delphinus) is strongly supported,which suggested the monophyly of the Sousa-Stenella-Tursiops-Delphinus complex. Neither the two Tursiops species ( T.truncates and T. aduncus ) nor the two Stenella species (S. coeruleoalba and S. attenuata ) examined in present study clustered together, which strongly supported the paraphyly of these two genera as suggested in previous studies. Furthermore,the present Bayesian inference with a lognormal relaxed molecular clock provided divergence time for each clade, which is consistent with previous estimations based on mitochondrial and nuclear DNA data. Based on this study, we proposed that nuclear introns hold great promise for resolving persistent problems in cetacean phylogeny.