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PMID: 15598738 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

Mitochondrial substitution rates are extraordinarily elevated and variable in a genus of flowering plants.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America ·Vol. 101 ·No. 51 ·2004-12-21 ·Pages 17741-6

Cho Y, Mower JP, Qiu YL, Palmer JD

Abstract

Plant mitochondrial (mt) genomes have long been known to evolve slowly in sequence. Here we show remarkable departure from this pattern of conservative evolution in a genus of flowering plants. Substitution rates at synonymous sites vary substantially among lineages within Plantago. At the extreme, rates in Plantago exceed those in exceptionally slow plant lineages by approximately 4,000-fold. The fastest Plantago lineages set a new benchmark for rapid evolution in a DNA genome, exceeding even the fastest animal mt genome by an order of magnitude. All six mt genes examined show similarly elevated divergence in Plantago, implying that substitution rates are highly accelerated throughout the genome. In contrast, substitution rates show little or no elevation in Plantago for each of four chloroplast and three nuclear genes examined. These results, combined with relatively modest elevations in rates of nonsynonymous substitutions in Plantago mt genes, indicate that major, reversible changes in the mt mutation rate probably underlie the extensive variation in synonymous substitution rates. These rate changes could be caused by major changes in any number of factors that control the mt mutation rate, from the production and detoxification of oxygen free radicals in the mitochondrion to the efficacy of mt DNA replication and/or repair.

MeSH Terms
Animals Cell Nucleus/genetics Chloroplasts/genetics Cyclooxygenase 1 DNA, Mitochondrial/genetics Evolution, Molecular Flowers/classification,cytology,genetics Genes, Plant/genetics Genetic Variation/genetics Isoenzymes/genetics Mitochondria/genetics Molecular Sequence Data Mutation/genetics Phylogeny Plantago/classification,cytology,genetics Prostaglandin-Endoperoxide Synthases/genetics Time Factors Trees/genetics
Chemicals
DNA, Mitochondrial Isoenzymes Cyclooxygenase 1 Prostaglandin-Endoperoxide Synthases
Authors & Affiliations
4 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Cho Yangrae
Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405-3700, USA.
Mower Jeffrey P
Qiu Yin-Long
Palmer Jeffrey D
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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.0408302101
Published
2004-12-21
Epub
2004-00-14
Pages
17741-6
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
7505876
PMCID
PMC539783
Subset
IM
Grants
NIGMS NIH HHS · R01 GM035087 · United States
NIGMS NIH HHS · R01-GM-35087 · United States
Databases
GENBANK
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External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0408302101 PMC Full Text View journal details
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