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Sequence evolution in and around the mitochondrial control region in birds

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Abstract

By cloning and sequencing 3.4 kilobases of snow goose mtDNA we found that the ND5 gene is followed by the genes for cytochrome b, tRNAThr, tRNAPro, ND6, tRNAGlu, the control region, tRNAPhe, and srRNA. This order is identical to that of chicken, quail, and duck mtDNA but differs from that of mammals and a frog (Xenopus). The mean extent of difference due to base substitution between goose and chicken is generally closer to the same comparison between rat and mouse but less than that between human and cow. For one of the nine regions compared (tRNAGlu), the bird differences appear to be anomalous, possibly implicating altered functional constraints. Within the control region, several short sequences common to mammals are also conserved in the birds. Comparison of the goose control region with that of quail and chicken suggests that a sequence element with similarity to CSB-1 duplicated once prior to the divergence of goose and chicken and again on the lineage leading to chicken. Between goose (or duck) and chicken there are four times more transversions at the third positions of fourfold-degenerate codons in mitochondrial than in nuclear genes.

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Abbreviations

CSB:

conserved sequence block

cytb:

cytochrome b

ND:

NADH dehydrogenase

srRNA:

small-subunit ribosomal RNA

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, 94720, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Thomas W. Quinn & Allan C. Wilson

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Denver, 80208, Denver, CO, USA

    Thomas W. Quinn & Allan C. Wilson

Authors
  1. Thomas W. Quinn
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  2. Allan C. Wilson
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Deceased July 21, 1991

Correspondence to: T.W. Quinn at the University of Denver

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Quinn, T.W., Wilson, A.C. Sequence evolution in and around the mitochondrial control region in birds. J Mol Evol 37, 417–425 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00178871

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00178871

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