Convergent evolution of marine mammals is associated with distinct substitutions in common genes.

ABSTRACT: Phenotypic convergence is thought to be driven by parallel substitutions coupled with natural selection at the sequence level. Multiple independent evolutionary transitions of mammals to an aquatic environment offer an opportunity to test this thesis. Here, whole genome alignment of coding sequences identified widespread parallel amino acid substitutions in marine mammals; however, the majority of these changes were not unique to these animals. Conversely, we report that candidate aquatic adaptation genes, identified by signatures of likelihood convergence and/or elevated ratio of nonsynonymous to synonymous nucleotide substitution rate, are characterized by very few parallel substitutions and exhibit distinct sequence changes in each group. Moreover, no significant positive correlation wa

SUBMITTER: Zhou X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4637874 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature