Authors: Weizhao Yang Bin Lu Jinzhong Fu
Publish Date: 2017/02/20
Volume: 84, Issue: 2-3, Pages: 139-143
Abstract
We report a strong pattern of molecularlevel convergent/parallel evolution of the MYBPC2 gene Three highelevation amphibian species Bufo gargarizans minshanicus Nanorana pleskei Rana kukunoris revealed remarkable numbers of convergent and parallel amino acid substitutions On the MYBPC2 gene tree of eleven anurans the three distantly related species formed a strongly supported clade that was away from their respective relatives Furthermore we generated both modelbased and empirical databased null distributions for neutral convergent evolution All three pairwise comparisons among the three species showed significantly more convergent and parallel substitutions than the null distributions This study adds to the very small roster of clear cases of nonneutral molecular convergent evolution eg prestin rhodopsin Molecular convergent evolution has significant implications in biology and detailed case studies will likely provide more insight into its genetic mechanisms
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