Resolving kangaroo phylogeny and overcoming retrotransposon ascertainment bias.

ABSTRACT: Reconstructing phylogeny from retrotransposon insertions is often limited by access to only a single reference genome, whereby support for clades that do not include the reference taxon cannot be directly observed. Here we have developed a new statistical framework that accounts for this ascertainment bias, allowing us to employ phylogenetically powerful retrotransposon markers to explore the radiation of the largest living marsupials, the kangaroos and wallabies of the genera Macropus and Wallabia. An exhaustive in silico screening of the tammar wallaby (Macropus eugenii) reference genome followed by experimental screening revealed 29 phylogenetically informative retrotransposon markers belonging to a family of endogenous retroviruses. We identified robust support for the enigmatic swamp

SUBMITTER: Dodt WG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5711953 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature