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Molecular evolution and positive Darwinian selection of the chloroplast maturase matK

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Abstract

It is not clear whether matK evolves under Darwinian selection. In this study, 70 plant groups, representing 2,279 species at various evolutionary levels, were used to illustrate the molecular adaptation and evolutionary dynamics of gene divergence in matKs. Selective influences were investigated using standard dN/dS ratio methods. Analyses revealed the presence of positive selection in matKs of 32 plant groups. More positively selected sites were detected in the N-terminal region than in the RT domain and domain X of matK. Moreover, removing amino acid sites that are under positive selection has a significant effect on the bootstrap values of phylogenetic reconstruction. Our results suggest that the rapidly evolving matK evolves under positive selection in some lineages of land plants. Several regions of matK have experienced molecular adaptation, which fine-tunes maturase performance.

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Fig. 1a–c

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Acknowledgments

This study is supported by the Education Department of Liaoning Province (2009A120), and the Start-up research fund (2008) of Dalian Jiaotong University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biotechnology Institute, College of Environment, Dalian Jiaotong University, 116028, Dalian, China

    Da Cheng Hao

  2. Institute of Medicinal Plant Development, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, 100193, Beijing, China

    Shi Lin Chen & Pei Gen Xiao

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  1. Da Cheng Hao
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  2. Shi Lin Chen
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  3. Pei Gen Xiao
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Da Cheng Hao or Shi Lin Chen.

Electronic supplementary material

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10265_2009_261_MOESM1_ESM.xls

Table S1. Sampling design. The 70 analyzed groups are listed, including taxonomic information and GenBank accession numbers of matK sequences (XLS 293 kb)

Table S2. Distribution of matK residues evolving under positive selection (XLS 18 kb)

10265_2009_261_MOESM3_ESM.xls

Table S3. Impact of sites evolving under positive selection on phylogenetic resolution: neighbor-joining (NJ) method (XLS 18 kb)

10265_2009_261_MOESM4_ESM.xls

Table S4. Impact of sites evolving under positive selection on phylogenetic resolution: maximum parsimony (MP) method (XLS 17 kb)

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Hao, D.C., Chen, S.L. & Xiao, P.G. Molecular evolution and positive Darwinian selection of the chloroplast maturase matK. J Plant Res 123, 241–247 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10265-009-0261-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10265-009-0261-5

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