Accumulation of slightly deleterious mutations in the mitochondrial genome: a hallmark of animal domestication.

ABSTRACT: The hypothesis that domestication leads to a relaxation of purifying selection on mitochondrial (mt) genomes was tested by comparative analysis of mt genes from dog, pig, chicken, and silkworm. The three vertebrate species showed mt genome phylogenies in which domestic and wild isolates were intermingled, whereas the domestic silkworm (Bombyx mori) formed a distinct cluster nested within its closest wild relative (Bombyx mandarina). In spite of these differences in phylogenetic pattern, significantly greater proportions of nonsynonymous SNPs than of synonymous SNPs were unique to the domestic populations of all four species. Likewise, in all four species, significantly greater proportions of RNA-encoding SNPs than of synonymous SNPs were unique to the domestic populations. Thus, domestic p

SUBMITTER: Hughes AL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3895481 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature