Phylogenetic Resolution of Deep Eukaryotic and Fungal Relationships Using Highly Conserved Low-Copy Nuclear Genes.

ABSTRACT: A comprehensive and reliable eukaryotic tree of life is important for many aspects of biological studies from comparative developmental and physiological analyses to translational medicine and agriculture. Both gene-rich and taxon-rich approaches are effective strategies to improve phylogenetic accuracy and are greatly facilitated by marker genes that are universally distributed, well conserved, and orthologous among divergent eukaryotes. In this article, we report the identification of 943 low-copy eukaryotic genes and we show that many of these genes are promising tools in resolving eukaryotic phylogenies, despite the challenges of determining deep eukaryotic relationships. As a case study, we demonstrate that smaller subsets of ∼20 and 52 genes could resolve controversial relationships

SUBMITTER: Ren R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5631032 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature