2001 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

Studies on Squamate phylogeny by complete mtDNA sequences

Research Project

Project/Area Number	12640680
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	Nagoya University
Principal Investigator	KUMAZAWA Yoshinori Nagoya University, Graduate School of Science, Associate Professor, 大学院・理学研究科, 講師 (60221941)
Project Period (FY)	2000 – 2001
Keywords	Reptilia / mtDNA / molecular phylogeny / lizard / snake / blind snake / evolution / taxonomy
Research Abstract	I determined complete nucleotide sequences of mitochondrial genomes from representatives of several squamate families and conducted molecular phylogenetic analyses using nucleotide or amino acid sequences of mitochondrial genes. Squamate mitochondrial genomes thus sequenced had the typical gene organization that had been found for most other vertebrates, except in that Komodo monitor had peculiar gene rearrangements in its mitochondrial DNA. Phylogenetic analyses suggested that 1) extant snakes and lizards are monophyletic to each other, 2) Iguania does not represent the eariest lizard lineage, and 3) the blind snake is a sister lineage to other more advanced snakes. These findings add independent phylogenetic information to the conventional evolutionary view mostly based on morphology. I am interested in obtaining more data to understand higher phylogenetic relationships of reptiles.