title: Molecular phylogeny of the chipmunks inferred from Mitochondrial cytochrome b and cytochrome oxidase II gene sequences.
abstract: There are currently 25 recognized species of the chipmunk genus Tamias. In this study we sequenced the complete mitochondrial cytochrome b (cyt b) gene of 23 Tamias species. We analyzed the cyt b sequence and then analyzed a combined data set of cyt b along with a previous data set of cytochrome oxidase subunit II (COII) sequence. Maximum-likelihood was used to further test the fit of models of evolution to the cyt b data. Other sciurid cyt b sequence was added to examine the evolution of Tamias in the context of other sciurids. Relationships among Tamias species are discussed, particularly the possibility of a current sorting event among taxa of the southwestern United States and the extreme divergences among the three subgenera (Neotamias, Eutamias, and Tamias).
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, San Francisco State University, 1600 Holloway Avenue, San Francisco, California 94132, USA.
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Piaggio
authors.forename: G S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Spicer
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003573:Cytochrome b Group / Q000235:genetics*; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics*; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV / Q000235:genetics*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D021122:Protein Subunits; D012589:Sciuridae / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D003573:Cytochrome b Group; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D021122:Protein Subunits; D004247:DNA; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV