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Nuclear and Mitochondrial DNA Comparisons Reveal Extreme Rate Variation in the Molecular Clock
Abstract
The discovery that the rate of evolution of vertebrate mitochondrial DNA is rapid, compared to the rate for vertebrate nuclear DNA, has resulted in its widespread use in evolutionary studies. Comparison of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA divergences among echinoid and vertebrate taxa of similar ages indicates that the rapid rate of vertebrate mitochondrial DNA evolution is, in part, an artifact of a widely divergent rate of nuclear DNA evolution. This disparity in relative rates of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA divergence suggests that the controls and constraints under which the mitochondrial and nuclear genomes operate are evolving independently, and provides evidence that is independent of fossil dating for a robust rejection of a generalized molecular clock hypothesis of DNA evolution.
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Cited by
Kocher, T. D., Thomas, W. K., Meyer, A., Edwards, S. V., Pääbo, S., Villablanca, F. X., & Wilson, A. C. (1989) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.86.16.6196 · Cited by 4,969
Body size, metabolic rate, generation time, and the molecular clock.
Martin, A. P., & Palumbi, S. R. (1993) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.90.9.4087 · Cited by 1,239
Sunnucks, P., & Hales, D. F. (1996) · Molecular Biology and Evolution · doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.molbev.a025612 · Cited by 1,121
Dating the Time of Origin of Major Clades: Molecular Clocks and the Fossil Record
Smith, A. B., & Peterson, K. J. (2002) · Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences · doi:10.1146/annurev.earth.30.091201.140057 · Cited by 193
Time scale of eutherian evolution estimated without assuming a constant rate of molecular evolution.
Hasegawa, M., Thorne, J. L., & Kishino, H. (2003) · Genes & Genetic Systems · doi:10.1266/ggs.78.267 · Cited by 145
Metadata
- Authors
- Vawter, L., & Brown, W. M.
- Venue
- Science
- Published
- 1986-10-10
- Volume
- 234
- Issue
- 4773
- Pages
- 194-196
- ISSN
- 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
- 1095-9203
- OpenAlex
- W2056619587
- Cited by
- 315
- References
- 0
- FWCI
- 30.48
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
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- Vawter, L., & Brown, W. M. (1986). Nuclear and Mitochondrial DNA Comparisons Reveal Extreme Rate Variation in the Molecular Clock. Science. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.3018931
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