Mitochondrial Gene Phylogenetic Incongruencies Are Linked to Chromosomal Position and Function.

ABSTRACT: Mitochondrial DNA has been one of the key workhorses of evolutionary studies. Hence, understanding the dynamics of DNA sequence change in this tiny genome (15 to 20 kb) is of utmost importance. However, we are unaware of large studies examining how the functionality and chromosomal positioning of mitochondrial genes may impact their phylogenetic patterning. To examine this, we assembled a large database of animal mitochondrial genomes (>10,000 total individuals over 89 taxonomic groups) and compared their phylogenetics, functionality, and location on the mitochondrial genome (heavy and light strand in vertebrates or J and N strand in other animals and distance from the origin of replication). We found that many genes show unique evolutionary patterns, often directly tied to chromosomal loc

SUBMITTER: DeSalle R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12708337 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature