L1 (LINE-1) retrotransposable elements provide a "fossil" record of the phylogenetic history of murid rodents.
The single most difficult problem in phylogenetic analysis is deciding whether a shared taxonomic character is due to common ancestry or one that appeared independently due to convergence, parallelism, or reversion to an ancestral state. Mammalian L1 retrotransposons undergo periodic amplifications in which multiple copies of the elements are interspersed in the genome. Because these elements apparently are transmitted only by inheritance and are retained in the genome, a shared L1 amplification event can only be an inherited ancestral character. We propose that L1 amplification events can be an excellent tool for analyzing mammalian evolution and demonstrate here how we addressed several refractory problems in rodent systematics using L1 DNA as a taxonomic character.
Usdin
K
K
Section on Genomic Structure and Function, National Institute of Diabetes and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892.
Chevret
P
P
Catzeflis
F M
FM
Verona
R
R
Furano
A V
AV
D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D017931:DNA Primers; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D005580:Fossils; D008322:Mammals / Q000235:genetics; D051379:Mice / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009115:Muridae / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D051381:Rats / Q000235:genetics; D018626:Retroelements; D013045:Species Specificity
D017931:DNA Primers; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D018626:Retroelements