Mutation rate is linked to diversification in birds

Robert Lanfear*, Simon Y.W. Ho, Dominic Love, Lindell Bromham

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    113 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    How does genome evolution affect the rate of diversification of biological lineages? Recent studies have suggested that the overall rate of genome evolution is correlated with the rate of diversification. If true, this claimhas important consequences forunderstanding the process of diversification, and implications for the use of DNA sequence data to reconstruct evolutionary history. However, the generality and cause of this relationship have not been established. Here, we test the relationship between the rate of molecular evolution and net diversification with a 19-gene, 17-kb DNA sequence dataset from 64 families of birds. We show that rates of molecular evolution are positively correlated to net diversification in birds. Using a 7.6-kb dataset of protein-coding DNA, we show that the synonymous substitution rate, and therefore the mutation rate, is correlated to net diversification. Further analysis shows that the link between mutation rates and net diversification is unlikely to be the indirect result of correlations with life-history variables thatmay influence both quantities, suggesting that there might be a causal link between mutation rates and net diversification.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)20423-20428
    Number of pages6
    JournalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
    Volume107
    Issue number47
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 23 Nov 2010

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