Dissertation Research: The Effect of Metabolic Rate on Mitochondrial DNA Evolution in the Tenrecidae (Insectivora: Mammalia)

9623454帕特森遗传密码是“退化的”，因为并不是所有遗传结构的变化都伴随着它们所产生的蛋白质的变化。众所周知，线粒体DNA“沉默”编码区的碱基对替换偏离了群体遗传学理论预测的恒定突变率。一些研究人员假设，更高的代谢率会产生更高的(因此不相等的)DNA突变率。一种鲜为人知的哺乳动物食虫动物家族，马达加斯加和非洲的Tenrecs，表现出广泛的代谢率，因此特别适合测试这一假设，以不同的进化速度。Tenrecs的进化关系将使用独立的形态和遗传信息建立，包括核DNA序列。代谢率的演变及其对线粒体DNA替换的影响将根据这棵进化树进行评估，为理论预测提供强大的经验检验。

9623454 Patterson The genetic code is "degenerate," because not all changes in genetic structure are accompanied by changes in the proteins they produce. Base-pair substitutions at "silent" coding sites of mitichondrial DNA are known to deviate from the constant mutation rates predicted by population genetic theory. Some researchers hypothesize that higher metabolic rates produce higher (and therefore unequal) rates of DNA mutation. A little-known family of mammalian insectivores, the tenrecs of Madagascar and Africa, exhibit a wide range of metabolic rates and is thus especially well suited for testing this hypothesis for unequal evolutionary rates. The evolutionary relationships of the tenrecs will be established using independent morphological and genetic information, including nuclear DNA sequences. The evolution of metabolic rates and their effects on mitochondrial DNA substitutions will be assessed against this evolutionary tree, providing a powerful empirical test of theoretical predictions.