6533b7d5fe1ef96bd1264817
RESEARCH PRODUCT
Phylogenetic reconstruction of the Drosophila obscura group, on the basis of mitochondrial DNA
Francisco J. AyalaAndrés MoyaAmparo LatorreEladio Barriosubject
Mitochondrial DNAbiologyRestriction MappingZoologySubspeciesbiology.organism_classificationDNA MitochondrialRestriction fragmentTaxonPhylogeneticsMolecular evolutionGeneticsbiology.proteinAnimalsRate of evolutionDrosophilaDrosophila obscuraMolecular BiologyEcology Evolution Behavior and SystematicsPhylogenydescription
We have constructed restriction-site maps of the mtDNAs in 13 species and one subspecies of the Drosophila obscura group. The traditional division of this group into two subgroups (affinis and obscura) does not correspond to the phylogeny of the group, which shows two well-defined clusters (the Nearctic affinis and pseudoobscura subgroups) plus a very heterogeneous set of anciently diverged species (the Palearctic obscura subgroup). The mtDNA of Drosophila exhibits a tendency to evolve toward high A+T values. This leads to a "saturation" effect that (1) begets an apparent decrease in the rate of evolution as the time since the divergence of taxa increases and (2) reduces the value that mtDNA restriction analysis has for the phylogenetic reconstruction of Drosophila species that are not closely related.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992-07-01 |