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Do Avian Mitochondria Recombine?

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Abstract

The dogma of strict maternal inheritance of mitochondria is now being tested with population genetics methods on sequence data from many species. In this study we investigated whether recombination occurs in the mitochondria of the blue tit (Parus caeruleus) by studying polymorphisms in the mitochondrial control region and in a recently identified (A) n microsatellite on the W chromosome. The female heterogamety of avian sex chromosomes allows a test of whether mitochondrial recombination affects genealogical inference by comparison of mitochondrial and W-linked sequence variation. There is no discrepancy between mitochondrial and W-linked genealogies in blue tits, consistent with no recombination. We also analyzed mitochondrial sequence variation in both blue tits and peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus) using a coalescent-based approach which accounts for recurrent mutation; in neither bird species did we find evidence of recombination. We conclude that it is unlikely that mitochondrial recombination has large effects on mitochondrial genetic variability in birds.

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Acknowledgements

Thanks go to Dr. Simon Griffith, who provided blood samples from Gotland and Oxford blue tits, Dr. Katharina Foerster, who provided DNA from Austrian blue tits, and Hannah Sundström, who first identified the PcaW microsatellite used in this study. H.E. is a Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Research Fellow supported by a grant from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation. This study was supported by the Swedish Research Council.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Evolutionary Biology, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 18D, 752 36 Uppsala, Sweden

    Sofia Berlin, Nick G.C. Smith & Hans Ellegren

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  1. Sofia Berlin
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  2. Nick G.C. Smith
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  3. Hans Ellegren
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Correspondence to Sofia Berlin.

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Berlin, S., Smith, N.G. & Ellegren, H. Do Avian Mitochondria Recombine? . J Mol Evol 58, 163–167 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00239-003-2537-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00239-003-2537-z

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