SREL Reprint #2351

A translocated mitochondrial cytochrome b pseudogene in voles (Rodentia: Microtus)

J. Andrew DeWoody1, Ronald K. Chesser2, and Robert J. Baker1

1Department of Biological Sciences, Texas Tech University
2Savannah River Ecology Lab and Department of Genetics, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA

Abstract: A full-length cytochrome b pseudogene was found in rodents; it has apparently been translocated from a mitochondrion to the nuclear genome in the sub-family Arvicolinae. The pseudogene (Ψcytb) differed from its mitochondrial counterpart at 201 of 1143 sites (17.6%) and by four indels. Cumulative evidence suggests that the pseudogene has been translocated to the nucleus. Phylogenetic reconstruction indicates that the pseudogene arose before the diversification of M. arvalis/M. rossiaemeridionalis from M. oeconomus, but after the divergence of the peromyscine/sigmodontine/arvicoline clades some ~10 MYA. Published rates of divergence between mitochondrial genes and their nuclear pseudogenes suggest that the translocation of this mitochondrial gene to the nuclear genome occurred some 6 MYA, in agreement with the phylogenetic evidence.

Keywords: mtDNA; Cytochrome b; Pseudogene; Microtus; Rodent; Translocation

SREL Reprint #2351

DeWoody, J.A., R.K. Chesser, and R.J. Baker. 1999. A translocated mitochondrial cytochrome b pseudogene in voles (Rodentia: Microtus). Journal of Molecular Evolution 48:380-382.

This information was provided by the University of Georgia's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (srel.uga.edu).