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The rate of adaptive evolution in animal mitochondria
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-09, 00:00 authored by Jennifer E James, Gwenael Piganeau, Adam Eyre-WalkerAdam Eyre-WalkerWe have investigated whether there is adaptive evolution in mitochondrial DNA, using an extensive data set containing over 500 animal species from a wide range of taxonomic groups. We apply a variety of McDonald–Kreitman style methods to the data. We find that the evolution of mitochondrial DNA is dominated by slightly deleterious mutations, a finding which is supported by a number of previous studies. However, when we control for the presence of deleterious mutations using a new method, we find that mitochondria undergo a significant amount of adaptive evolution, with an estimated 26% (95% confidence intervals: 5.7–45%) of nonsynonymous substitutions fixed by adaptive evolution. We further find some weak evidence that the rate of adaptive evolution is correlated to synonymous diversity. We interpret this as evidence that at least some adaptive evolution is limited by the supply of mutations.
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Publication status
- Published
File Version
- Published version
Journal
Molecular EcologyISSN
0962-1083Publisher
WileyExternal DOI
Issue
1Volume
25Page range
67-78Department affiliated with
- Evolution, Behaviour and Environment Publications
Full text available
- Yes
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Legacy Posted Date
2016-01-15First Open Access (FOA) Date
2016-01-15First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date
2016-01-15Usage metrics
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