Rates of molecular evolution and diversification in plants: chloroplast substitution rates correlate with species-richness in the Proteaceae.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Many factors have been identified as correlates of the rate of molecular evolution, such as body size and generation length. Analysis of many molecular phylogenies has also revealed correlations between substitution rates and clade size, suggesting a link between rates of molecular evolution and the process of diversification. However, it is not known whether this relationship applies to all lineages and all sequences. Here, in order to investigate how widespread this phenomenon is, we investigate patterns of substitution in chloroplast genomes of the diverse angiosperm family Proteaceae. We used DNA sequences from six chloroplast genes (6278bp alignment with 62 taxa) to test for a correlation between diversification and the rate of substitutions.

Results

Using ph

SUBMITTER: Duchene D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3600047 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature