Direct estimation of the mitochondrial DNA mutation rate in Drosophila melanogaster.

ABSTRACT: Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) variants are widely used in evolutionary genetics as markers for population history and to estimate divergence times among taxa. Inferences of species history are generally based on phylogenetic comparisons, which assume that molecular evolution is clock-like. Between-species comparisons have also been used to estimate the mutation rate, using sites that are thought to evolve neutrally. We directly estimated the mtDNA mutation rate by scanning the mitochondrial genome of Drosophila melanogaster lines that had undergone approximately 200 generations of spontaneous mutation accumulation (MA). We detected a total of 28 point mutations and eight insertion-deletion (indel) mutations, yielding an estimate for the single-nucleotide mutation rate of 6.2 x 10(-8) per site

SUBMITTER: Haag-Liautard C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2517619 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature