Nesi N.,CNRS Systematics, Biodiversity and Evolution Institute |
Nesi N.,French Natural History Museum |
Nakoune E.,Institute Pasteur Of Bangui |
Cruaud C.,Genoscope Center National Of Sequenage |
And 2 more authors.
Comptes Rendus - Biologies
Sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene have been shown to be useful for species identification in various groups of animals. However, the DNA barcoding approach has never been tested on African fruit bats of the family Pteropodidae (Mammalia, Chiroptera). In this study, the COI gene was sequenced from 120 bats collected in the Central African Republic and belonging to either Epomophorus gambianus or Micropteropus pusillus, two species easily diagnosed on the basis of morphological characters, such as body size, skull shape and palatal ridges. Two additional molecular markers were used for comparisons: the complete mitochondrial cytochrome b gene and the intron 7 of the nuclear β-fibrinogen (FGB) gene. Our results reveal an unexpected discordance between mitochondrial and nuclear genes. The nuclear FGB signal agrees with our morphological identifications, as the three alleles detected for E. gambianus are divergent from the fourteen alleles found for M. pusillus. By contrast, this taxonomic distinction is not recovered with the analyses of mitochondrial genes, which support rather a polyphyletic pattern for both species. The conflict between molecular markers is explained by multiple mtDNA introgression events from M. pusillus into E. gambianus or, alternatively, by incomplete lineage sorting of mtDNA haplotypes associated with positive selection on FGB alleles of M. pusillus. Our work shows the failure of DNA barcoding to discriminate between two morphologically distinct fruit bat species and highlights the importance of using both mitochondrial and nuclear markers for taxonomic identification. © 2011 Académie des sciences. Source
Le Pechon T.,University Pierre and Marie Curie |
Le Pechon T.,University of Reunion Island |
Dubuisson J.-Y.,University Pierre and Marie Curie |
Haevermans T.,CNRS Systematics, Biodiversity and Evolution Institute |
And 3 more authors.
Annals of Botany
Background and Aims In the Mascarenes, a young oceanic archipelago composed of three main islands, the Dombeyoideae (Malvaceae) have diversified extensively with a high endemism rate. With the exception of the genus Trochetia, Mascarene Dombeyoideae are described as dioecious whereas Malagasy and African species are considered to be monocline, species with individuals bearing hermaphrodite/perfect flowers. In this study, the phylogenetic relationships were reconstructed to clarify the taxonomy, understand the phylogeographic pattern of relationships and infer the evolution of the breeding systems for the Mascarenes Dombeyoideae. Methods Parsimony and Bayesian analysis of four DNA markers (ITS, rpl16 intron and two intergenic spacers trnQ-rsp16 and psbM-trnD) was used. The molecular matrix comprised 2985 characters and 48 taxa. The Bayesian phylogeny was used to infer phylogeographical hypotheses and the evolution of breeding systems. Key ResultsParsimony and Bayesian trees produced similar results. The Dombeyoideae from the Mascarenes are polyphyletic and distributed among four clades. Species of Dombeya, Trochetia and Ruizia are nested in the same clade, which implies the paraphyly of Dombeya. Additionally, it is shown that each of the four clades has an independent Malagasy origin. Two adaptive radiation events have occurred within two endemic lineages of the Mascarenes. The polyphyly of the Mascarene Dombeyoideae suggests at least three independent acquisitions of dioecy.Conclusions This molecular phylogeny highlights the taxonomic issues within the Dombeyoideae. Indeed, the limits and distinctions of the genera Dombeya, Trochetia and Ruizia should be reconsidered. The close phylogeographic relationships between the flora of the Mascarenes and Madagascar are confirmed. Despite their independent origins and a distinct evolutionary history, each endemic clade has developed a different breeding systems (dioecy) compared with the Malagasy Dombeyoideae. Sex separation appears as an evolutionary convergence and may be the consequence of selective pressures particular to insular environments. © The Author 2010. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company. All rights reserved. Source
Jacquemin J.,University of Perpignan |
Jacquemin J.,University of Arizona |
Chaparro C.,University of Perpignan |
Laudie M.,University of Perpignan |
And 5 more authors.
Molecular Biology and Evolution
Whole genome duplication (WGD) and subsequent evolution of gene pairs have been shown to have shaped the present day genomes of most, if not all, plants and to have played an essential role in the evolution of many eukaryotic genomes. Analysis of the rice (Oryza sativa ssp. japonica) genome sequence suggested an ancestral WGD ∼50-70 Ma common to all cereals and a segmental duplication between chromosomes 11 and 12 as recently as 5 Ma. More recent studies based on coding sequences have demonstrated that gene conversion is responsible for the high sequence conservation which suggested such a recent duplication. We previously showed that gene conversion has been a recurrent process throughout the Oryza genus and in closely related species and that orthologous duplicated regions are also highly conserved in other cereal genomes. We have extended these studies to compare megabase regions of genomic (coding and noncoding) sequences between two cultivated (O. sativa, Oryza glaberrima) and one wild (Oryza brachyantha) rice species using a novel approach of topological incongruency. The high levels of intraspecies conservation of both gene and nongene sequences, particularly in O. brachyantha, indicate long-range conversion events less than 4 Ma in all three species. These observations demonstrate megabase-scale conversion initiated within a highly rearranged region located at ∼2.1 Mb from the chromosome termini and emphasize the importance of gene conversion in cereal genome evolution. The Author 2011. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution. All rights reserved. Source