Analysis of complete mitochondrial genomes from extinct and extant rhinoceroses reveals lack of phylogenetic resolution.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The scientific literature contains many examples where DNA sequence analyses have been used to provide definitive answers to phylogenetic problems that traditional (non-DNA based) approaches alone have failed to resolve. One notable example concerns the rhinoceroses, a group for which several contradictory phylogenies were proposed on the basis of morphology, then apparently resolved using mitochondrial DNA fragments.

Results

In this study we report the first complete mitochondrial genome sequences of the extinct ice-age woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis), and the threatened Javan (Rhinoceros sondaicus), Sumatran (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis), and black (Diceros bicornis) rhinoceroses. In combination with the previously published mitochondrial genomes of the

SUBMITTER: Willerslev E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2694787 | biostudies-literature | 2009 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature