THE EVOLUTIONARY HISTORY OF PARTHENOGENETIC CNEMIDOPHORUS LEMNISCATUS (SAURIA: TEIIDAE). II. MATERNAL ORIGIN AND AGE INFERRED FROM MITOCHONDRIAL DNA ANALYSES

D K Vyas; C Moritz; D Peccinini-Seale; J W Wright; W M Brown

doi:10.1111/j.1558-5646.1990.tb03814.x

THE EVOLUTIONARY HISTORY OF PARTHENOGENETIC CNEMIDOPHORUS LEMNISCATUS (SAURIA: TEIIDAE). II. MATERNAL ORIGIN AND AGE INFERRED FROM MITOCHONDRIAL DNA ANALYSES

Evolution. 1990 Jul;44(4):922-932. doi: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.1990.tb03814.x.

Authors

D K Vyas¹, C Moritz¹, D Peccinini-Seale², J W Wright³, W M Brown¹

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Molecular Systematics, Museum of Zoology and Department of Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109-1048, USA.
² Departamento de Biologia, Instituto de Biociencias, Universidade de Sao Paulo, 05499, Sao Paulo, BRAZIL.
³ Herpetology Section, Museum of Natural History, 900 Exposition Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA, 90007, USA.

PMID: 28569022
DOI: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.1990.tb03814.x

Abstract

Restriction endonuclease analyses were performed on mitochondrial DNAs (mtDNAs) representing unisexual parthenogenetic (cytotypes A, B, and C) and bisexual (cytotypes D and E) populations of Amazonian lizards presently regarded as Cnemidophorus lemniscatus. The results of mtDNA cleavage map comparisons among these C. lemniscatus indicated that (1) there was no cleavage site variation among the unisexuals, (2) mtDNAs from the bisexual cytotypes D and E differed in sequence from one another by about 13%, and (3) mtDNAs from cytotypes A-C differed from those of cytotype D by about 5% and from those of cytotype E by about 13%. Higher resolution restriction fragment size comparisons confirmed the high degree of similarity among the unisexual mtDNAs, but identified 12 cleavage site variants among the 13 cytotype D mtDNAs examined. Both cladistic and phenetic (UPGMA) analyses of the data indicate that the unisexual and cytotype D mtDNAs form a single clade, suggesting that a female of cytotype D was the maternal progenitor of the unisexuals. The similarity among the unisexual mtDNAs and the variability among those of cytotype D suggest that the three unisexual cytotypes arose recently from a common maternal lineage. The mtDNA variability observed among cytotype D individuals has a strong geographic component, suggesting that the unisexuals arose from one or a few geographically proximal populations. The mtDNA comparisons also support the conclusion, based on allozyme comparisons (Sites et al., 1990, this issue), that cytotypes D and E, although presently allocated to C. lemniscatus, are separate species.