title: Macroevolutionary relationships of species of Drosophila melanogaster group based on mtDNA sequences.
abstract: The phylogenetic relationships among the Drosophila melanogaster group species were analyzed using approximately 1700 nucleotide-long sequences of the mitochondrial DNA. Phylogenetic analysis was performed using this region consisting of a part of the cytochrome b (cytb) coding gene, the entire coding sequences of tRNA-Leu, tRNA-Ser and the first subunit of NADH dehydrogenase (NADH1), and a part of the 16S-rRNA gene. The study of these sequences showed that this region of mtDNA is very invariable, as regards with the type of the genes that it contains, as well as the order that they are located on it. The resulting phylogenetic trees reveal a topology that separates the species into three main ancestral lines, leading to the following subgroups: (a) ananassae subgroup, (b) montium subgroup, and (c) melanogaster and Oriental subgroups. The inferred topology complements and generally agrees with previously proposed classifications based on morphological and molecular data.
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, Agricultural University of Athens, Iera Odos 75, Votanikos, 118 55 Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Petros
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kastanis
authors.forename: Elias
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Eliopoulos
authors.forename: George N
authors.initials: GN
authors.lastname: Goulielmos
authors.forename: Spyros
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tsakas
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Loukas
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D017931:DNA Primers; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics*; D023061:Gene Order; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D008957:Models, Genetic; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial