𝔖 Bobbio Scriptorium
✦   LIBER   ✦

Mitochondrial COI Sequences of Brachiopods: Genetic Code Shared with Protostomes and Limits of Utility for Phylogenetic Reconstruction

✍ Scribed by M. Saito; S. Kojima; K. Endo


Book ID
102617517
Publisher
Elsevier Science
Year
2000
Tongue
English
Weight
169 KB
Volume
15
Category
Article
ISSN
1055-7903

No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.

✦ Synopsis


A 1230-bp region of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene of mitochondrial DNA of each of 16 brachiopod species, representing all five living orders, was amplified by polymerase chain reaction and sequenced. Pairwise comparisons of sequence differences plotted against divergence times estimated from the brachiopod fossil record revealed that, although there are considerable variations in the expected substitution rate among different lineages, amino acid substitutions of the COI sequences may largely become saturated in 100 Ma, due mostly to multiple substitutions at the same site. Coinciding with this result, phylogenetic analysis indicated low bootstrap values for nodes corresponding to divergence events that occurred before 100 Ma, suggesting that COI sequences are suitable only for inference of phylogenetic events subsequent to the Mesozoic. Examination of brachiopod codons corresponding to invariant amino acids in the COI of various other animals suggest the nonuniversal codon relationships UGA ‫؍‬ Trp, AUA ‫؍‬ Met, AAA/G ‫؍‬ Lys, and AGA/G ‫؍‬ Ser. These are identical to those in mollusks, annelids, and arthropods, consistent with the conclusion that brachiopods are protostomes, as indicated by previous molecular analyses.