Recombination among multiple mitochondrial pseudogenes from a Passerine genus.
PCR products of a fragment of the mitchondrial protein coding subunit 5 of NADH-dehydrogenase (ND5) from eight individuals representing five species of the South American bird genus Conirostrum were cloned. The 130 clones, which were subsequently sequenced, constituted 55 different sequences. Due to the observed differences in substitution patterns 58% of the cloned sequences were identified as pseudogenes. Recombination could be traced in 19% of the inferred nuclear pseudogenes, but this figure probably represents a significant underestimation of the factual recombination events. The nonrecombined pseudogenes consisted of multiple haplotypes found to diverge from 1 to 16% from the mitochondrial gene. The number of mitochondrial nuclear copies and their apparent frequent recombination suggest that pseudogenes constitute a serious potential risk in confounding phylogenetic studies and population genetic analysis.
Klitgaard Nielsen
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K
Danish Veterinary Laboratory, Bülowsvej 27, Copenhagen V, 1790, Denmark. kni@svs.dk
Arctander
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D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D016384:Consensus Sequence; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009245:NADH Dehydrogenase / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D021122:Protein Subunits; D011544:Pseudogenes; D011995:Recombination, Genetic; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D020308:Songbirds / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*; D013020:South America
D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D021122:Protein Subunits; D009245:NADH Dehydrogenase