Estimation of divergence times in cnidarian evolution based on mitochondrial protein-coding genes and the fossil record |
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Authors: | Park Eunji Hwang Dae-Sik Lee Jae-Seong Song Jun-Im Seo Tae-Kun Won Yong-Jin |
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Institution: | a Division of EcoScience, Ewha Womans University, 11-1 Daehyon-Dong, Sodaemun-Gu, Seoul 120-750, Republic of Korea b National Research Laboratory of Marine Molecular and Environmental Bioscience, Department of Chemistry, the Research Institute of Natural Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, Hanyang University, Seoul 133-791, Republic of Korea c Agricultural Bioinformatics Research Unit, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-8657, Japan d Division of Life Sciences, Korea Polar Research Institute, Songdo Technopark 7-50, Incheon 406-840, Republic of Korea |
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Abstract: | The phylum Cnidaria is comprised of remarkably diverse and ecologically significant taxa, such as the reef-forming corals, and occupies a basal position in metazoan evolution. The origin of this phylum and the most recent common ancestors (MRCAs) of its modern classes remain mostly unknown, although scattered fossil evidence provides some insights on this topic. Here, we investigate the molecular divergence times of the major taxonomic groups of Cnidaria (27 Hexacorallia, 16 Octocorallia, and 5 Medusozoa) on the basis of mitochondrial DNA sequences of 13 protein-coding genes. For this analysis, the complete mitochondrial genomes of seven octocoral and two scyphozoan species were newly sequenced and combined with all available mitogenomic data from GenBank. Five reliable fossil dates were used to calibrate the Bayesian estimates of divergence times. The molecular evidence suggests that cnidarians originated 741 million years ago (Ma) (95% credible region of 686-819), and the major taxa diversified prior to the Cambrian (543 Ma). The Octocorallia and Scleractinia may have originated from radiations of survivors of the Permian-Triassic mass extinction, which matches their fossil record well. |
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Keywords: | Cnidaria Hexacorallia Octocorallia Medusozoa Divergence times Mitochondrial genome |
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