Summary
In order to clarify some controverisal phylogenies such as those regarding the triplet of human, rodent, and cow and the evolutionary position of Lagompopha with respect to other mammals, we have analyzed both nuclear and mitochondrial genes using the stationary Markov model developed in our laboratory. We found that the two sets of genes give different results. In particular the mitochondrial tree showed rabbit linked first to rodents and the the rabbit-rodents branch linked to artiodactyls with human as the outgroup. The most favorite nuclear tree showed human linked first to artiocactlys and the human-artiocactyls branch linked to rabbit with rodents as the outgroup. The obvious questions, (1) which tree is the correct one, or (2) both trees can be incorrect, and (3) how can we explain such an evolutionary pattern, are discussed on the basis of our limited knowledge of factors that influence the clocklike behavior of biological macromolecules.
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Pesoleo, G., Sbisá, E., Mignotte, F. et al. The branching order of mammuals: Phylogenetic trees inferred from nuclear and mitochrondrial molecular data. J Mol Evol 33, 537–542 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02102806
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02102806