Molecular phylogenetics of mastodon and Tyrannosaurus rex.
We report a molecular phylogeny for a nonavian dinosaur, extending our knowledge of trait evolution within nonavian dinosaurs into the macromolecular level of biological organization. Fragments of collagen alpha1(I) and alpha2(I) proteins extracted from fossil bones of Tyrannosaurus rex and Mammut americanum (mastodon) were analyzed with a variety of phylogenetic methods. Despite missing sequence data, the mastodon groups with elephant and the T. rex groups with birds, consistent with predictions based on genetic and morphological data for mastodon and on morphological data for T. rex. Our findings suggest that molecular data from long-extinct organisms may have the potential for resolving relationships at critical areas in the vertebrate evolutionary tree that have, so far, been phylogenetically intractable.
Organ
Chris L
CL
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
Schweitzer
Mary H
MH
Zheng
Wenxia
W
Freimark
Lisa M
LM
Cantley
Lewis C
LC
Asara
John M
JM
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D005075:Biological Evolution; D001717:Birds / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics; D001842:Bone and Bones; D024042:Collagen Type I / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics; D025061:Dinosaurs / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*; D004606:Elephants / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*; D005580:Fossils; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D016415:Sequence Alignment
D024042:Collagen Type I