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Mitochondrial DNA sequences of primates: Tempo and mode of evolution

Journal of Molecular Evolution volume 18, pages 225–239 (1982)Cite this article

Summary

We cloned and sequenced a segment of mitochondrial DNA from human, chimpanzee, gorilla, orangutan, and gibbon. This segment is 896 bp in length, contains the genes for three transfer RNAs and parts of two proteins, and is homologous in all 5 primates. The 5 sequences differ from one another by base substitutions at 283 positions and by a deletion of one base pair. The sequence differences range from 9 to 19% among species, in agreement with estimates from cleavage map comparisons, thus confirming that the rate of mtDNA evolution in primates is 5 to 10 times higher than in nuclear DNA. The most striking new finding to emerge from these comparisons is that transitions greatly outnumber transversions. Ninety-two percent of the differences among the most closely related species (human, chimpanzee, and gorilla) are transitions. For pairs of species with longer divergence times, the observed percentage of transitions falls until, in the case of comparisons between primates and non-primates, it reaches a value of 45. The time dependence is probably due to obliteration of the record of transitions by multiple substitutions at the same nucleotide site. This finding illustrates the importance of choosing closely related species for analysis of the evolutionary process. The remarkable bias toward transitions in mtDNA evolution necessitates the revision of equations that correct for multiple substitutions at the same site. With revised equations, we calculated the incidence of silent and replacement substitutions in the two protein-coding genes. The silent substitution rate is 4 to 6 times higher than the replacement rate, indicating strong functional constraints at replacement sites. Moreover, the silent rate for these two genes is about 10% per million years, a value 10 times higher than the silent rate for the nuclear genes studied so far. In addition, the mean substitution rate in the three mitochondrial tRNA genes is at least 100 times higher than in nuclear tRNA genes. Finally, genealogical analysis of the sequence differences supports the view that the human lineage branched off only slightly before the gorilla and chimpanzee lineages diverged and strengthens the hypothesis that humans are more related to gorillas and chimpanzees than is the orangutan.

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Abbreviations

mtDNA:

mitochondrial DNA

bp:

base pair

URF:

unidentified reading frame

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Author notes

  1. Wesley M. Brown

    Present address: Division of Biological Sciences, University of Michigan, 48109, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

  2. Alice Wang

    Present address: Cetus Corporation, 600 Bancroft Way, 94710, Berkeley, California, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biochemistry, University of California, 94720, Berkeley, California, USA

    Wesley M. Brown, Ellen M. Prager, Alice Wang & Allan C. Wilson

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  1. Wesley M. Brown
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  4. Allan C. Wilson
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Brown, W.M., Prager, E.M., Wang, A. et al. Mitochondrial DNA sequences of primates: Tempo and mode of evolution. J Mol Evol 18, 225–239 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01734101

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01734101

Key words

  • DNA sequencing
  • Transitions
  • Multiplehit corrections
  • Silent substitutions
  • Replacement substitutions
  • Transfer RNA
  • Mutation pressure
  • Functional constraints
  • Hominoid phylogeny
  • Start codons