Effects of selection and mutation on mitochondrial variation and inferences of historical population expansion in a Caribbean reef fish.

ABSTRACT: Mitochondrial sequence data has contributed to the understanding of historical demography through the application of neutrality tests and coalescent estimators of population growth rates. Characteristics of the mitochondrial genome, such as high mutation rate and lack of recombination, render it particularly suitable for these types of studies. However, selection can also affect patterns of mitochondrial variation. Furthermore, conclusions based on single mitochondrial loci can be sensitive to differences among mitochondrial genes in mutation rate and pattern and levels of homoplasy. We tested the contributions of these factors to patterns of mitochondrial variation in the Caribbean reef fish Halichoeres bivittatus using a multilocus sequence-based approach. Mitochondrial protein-coding lo

SUBMITTER: Haney RA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3737519 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature