Nucleotide Substitutions during Speciation may Explain Substitution Rate Variation.

ABSTRACT: Although molecular mechanisms associated with the generation of mutations are highly conserved across taxa, there is widespread variation in mutation rates between evolutionary lineages. When phylogenies are reconstructed based on nucleotide sequences, such variation is typically accounted for by the assumption of a relaxed molecular clock, which is a statistical distribution of mutation rates without much underlying biological mechanism. Here, we propose that variation in accumulated mutations may be partly explained by an elevated mutation rate during speciation. Using simulations, we show how shifting mutations from branches to speciation events impacts inference of branching times in phylogenetic reconstruction. Furthermore, the resulting nucleotide alignments are better described by a

SUBMITTER: Janzen T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9366449 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature