Molecular evolution in the Drosophila melanogaster species subgroup: frequent parameter fluctuations on the timescale of molecular divergence.

ABSTRACT: Although mutation, genetic drift, and natural selection are well established as determinants of genome evolution, the importance (frequency and magnitude) of parameter fluctuations in molecular evolution is less understood. DNA sequence comparisons among closely related species allow specific substitutions to be assigned to lineages on a phylogenetic tree. In this study, we compare patterns of codon usage and protein evolution in 22 genes (>11,000 codons) among Drosophila melanogaster and five relatives within the D. melanogaster subgroup. We assign changes to eight lineages using a maximum-likelihood approach to infer ancestral states. Uncertainty in ancestral reconstructions is taken into account, at least to some extent, by weighting reconstructions by their posterior probabilities. Fou

SUBMITTER: Akashi H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1456288 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature