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PMID: 15084738 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

Estimating metazoan divergence times with a molecular clock.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America ·Vol. 101 ·No. 17 ·2004-04-27 ·Pages 6536-41

Peterson KJ, Lyons JB, Nowak KS, Takacs CM, Wargo MJ, McPeek MA

Abstract

Accurately dating when the first bilaterally symmetrical animals arose is crucial to our understanding of early animal evolution. The earliest unequivocally bilaterian fossils are approximately 555 million years old. In contrast, molecular-clock analyses calibrated by using the fossil record of vertebrates estimate that vertebrates split from dipterans (Drosophila) approximately 900 million years ago (Ma). Nonetheless, comparative genomic analyses suggest that a significant rate difference exists between vertebrates and dipterans, because the percentage difference between the genomes of mosquito and fly is greater than between fish and mouse, even though the vertebrate divergence is almost twice that of the dipteran. Here we show that the dipteran rate of molecular evolution is similar to other invertebrate taxa (echinoderms and bivalve molluscs) but not to vertebrates, which significantly decreased their rate of molecular evolution with respect to invertebrates. Using a data set consisting of the concatenation of seven different amino acid sequences from 23 ingroup taxa (giving a total of 11 different invertebrate calibration points scattered throughout the bilaterian tree and across the Phanerozoic), we estimate that the last common ancestor of bilaterians arose somewhere between 573 and 656 Ma, depending on the value assigned to the parameter scaling molecular substitution rate heterogeneity. These results are in accord with the known fossil record and support the view that the Cambrian explosion reflects, in part, the diversification of bilaterian phyla.

MeSH Terms
Animals Biological Evolution Genetic Heterogeneity Molecular Sequence Data Phylogeny RNA/genetics
Chemicals
RNA
Authors & Affiliations
6 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Peterson Kevin J
Department of Biological Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, USA. [email protected]
Lyons Jessica B
Nowak Kristin S
Takacs Carter M
Wargo Matthew J
McPeek Mark A
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Article Info
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Abbr.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
ISSN
0027-8424
DOI
10.1073/pnas.0401670101
Email
[email protected]
Published
2004-04-27
Epub
2004-00-14
Pages
6536-41
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
7505876
PMCID
PMC404080
Subset
IM
Databases
GENBANK
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External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0401670101 PMC Full Text View journal details
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