title: Molecular evolution and positive Darwinian selection of the chloroplast maturase matK.
abstract: It is not clear whether matK evolves under Darwinian selection. In this study, 70 plant groups, representing 2,279 species at various evolutionary levels, were used to illustrate the molecular adaptation and evolutionary dynamics of gene divergence in matKs. Selective influences were investigated using standard dN/dS ratio methods. Analyses revealed the presence of positive selection in matKs of 32 plant groups. More positively selected sites were detected in the N-terminal region than in the RT domain and domain X of matK. Moreover, removing amino acid sites that are under positive selection has a significant effect on the bootstrap values of phylogenetic reconstruction. Our results suggest that the rapidly evolving matK evolves under positive selection in some lineages of land plants. Several regions of matK have experienced molecular adaptation, which fine-tunes maturase performance.
authors: Biotechnology Institute, College of Environment, Dalian Jiaotong University, 116028 Dalian, China. hao@djtu.edu.cn
authors: Da Cheng
authors: da C
authors: Hao
authors: Shi Lin
authors: SL
authors: Chen
authors: Pei Gen
authors: PG
authors: Xiao
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D019943:Amino Acid Substitution; D002736:Chloroplasts / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics; D004722:Endoribonucleases / Q000235:genetics*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009713:Nucleotidyltransferases / Q000235:genetics*; D010944:Plants / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*; D012641:Selection, Genetic
chemical_list: D009713:Nucleotidyltransferases; C034038:mRNA maturase; D004722:Endoribonucleases