Molecular Evolution in Insectivora

1996 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

• Project/Area Number: 07640929
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: 系統・分類
• Research Institution: HIROSHIMA UNIVERSITY
• Principal Investigator: KUSAKABE Shinichi Faculty of Integrated Arts & Sciences Hiroshima University Associate Professor, 総合科学部, 助教授 (40153275)
• Project Period (FY): 1995 – 1996
• Keywords: Molecular Phylogeny / Molecular Evolution / Insectivora / 翼手類

Research Abstract

It has been deduced that insectivora were the ancestors of all other placental memmals. In order to investigate the molecular evolution of insectivora, we sequenced the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene and the whole cytochrome oxidase subunit II gene from mole, shrew mole and suncus belonging to the order of insectivora. A phylogenetic analysis using the maximum parsimony method and the neighbor-joining method indicates the cluster of mole and shrew mole or suncus and human. These results suggests the probability that order Primate and order Insectivora have a common and closer ancestors. Not only phylogenetic, tree, but also base composition bias, transition/transversion bias suggest mole and shrew mole are closely related and monophyletic assemblage. Moreover, we tried to estimate the divergence time between mole and shrew mole using the rates of nucleotide substitution and fossil records. Divergence time between mole and shrew mole was estimated approximately 5-9 million years.