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 subfamily 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.
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Received: 16 January 1998 / Accepted: 18 July 1998
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DeWoody, J., Chesser, R. & Baker, R. A Translocated Mitochondrial Cytochrome b Pseudogene in Voles (Rodentia: Microtus). J Mol Evol 48, 380–382 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1007/PL00013154
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/PL00013154