Molecular evolution and mutation accumulation lines in the nematode Pristionchus pacificus

摘要: Evolutionary reconstruction of the natural history an organism ultimately requires knowledge about development, population genetics, ecology, and phylogeny species. Such investigations would benefit from studies mutational processes because mutations are source variation. The nematode Pristionchus pacificus has been developed as a model in evolutionary biology by comparing its development with Caenorhabditis elegans. related species associated scarab beetles, their ecology well known. More than 200 P. isolates all over world available for this cosmopolitan We generated mutation accumulation (MA) lines to study spontaneous rates mitochondrial genome compared rate estimates variation between nine representative is 15,955 bp length typical nematodes. known genes contains unusual suppressor transfer RNA (tRNA) codon UAA. This most likely influenced spectrum observable 6 12 found 82 MA analyzed nonsense that can be suppressed tRNA. overall 7.6 10 8 per site generation less one order magnitude different C. elegans Drosophila. Using estimate comparison isolates, we calculate minimum time recent common ancestor at 10–10 generations. combination analysis intraspecific divergence provides powerful tool pacificus, discuss ecological implication these findings.