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Relationship among coelacanths, lungfishes, and tetrapods: A phylogenetic analysis based on mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I gene sequences

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Abstract

To clarify the relationship among coelacanths, lungfishes, and tetrapods, the amino acid sequences deduced from the nucleotide sequences of mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) genes were compared. The phylogenetic tree of these animals, including the coelacanth Latimeria chalumnae and the lungfish Lepidosiren paradoxa, was inferred by several methods. These analyses consistently indicate a coelacanth/lungfish clade, to which little attention has been paid by previous authors with the exception of some morphologists. Overall evidence of other mitochondrial genes reported previously and the results of this study equally support the coelacanth/lungfish and lungfish/tetrapod clades, ruling out the coelacanth/tetrapod clade.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Nagatsma, Midori-ku, 227, Yokohama, Japan

    Shin-ichi Yokobori, Norihiro Okada & Kazuya Nishikawa

  2. The Institute of Statistical Mathematics, 4-6-7 Minami-Azabu, 106, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan

    Masami Hasegawa

  3. Department of Industrial Chemistry, Faculty of Engineering, University of Tokyo, Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, 113, Tokyo, Japan

    Shin-ichi Yokobori, Takuya Ueda & Kimitsuna Watanabe

Authors
  1. Shin-ichi Yokobori
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  2. Masami Hasegawa
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  3. Takuya Ueda
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  4. Norihiro Okada
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  5. Kazuya Nishikawa
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  6. Kimitsuna Watanabe
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Correspondence to: K. Watanabe 0592

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Yokobori, Si., Hasegawa, M., Ueda, T. et al. Relationship among coelacanths, lungfishes, and tetrapods: A phylogenetic analysis based on mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I gene sequences. J Mol Evol 38, 602–609 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00175880

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00175880

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