Skip Navigation



MBE Advance Access published online on July 21, 2004
Molecular Biology and Evolution, doi:10.1093/molbev/msh217
Molecular Biology and Evolution © Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution 2004; all rights reserved
This Article
Right arrow Advance Access manuscript (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
21/11/2071    most recent
msh217v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Yokoyama, S.
Right arrow Articles by Takenaka, N.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Yokoyama, S.
Right arrow Articles by Takenaka, N.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Accepted July 15, 2004

Original Articles

The Molecular Basis of Adaptive Evolution of Squirrelfish Rhodopsins

Shozo Yokoyama 1* Naomi Takenaka 1

1 Department of Biology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: syokoya{at}emory.edu.


  Abstract

The wavelengths of maximal absorption ({lambda}max) of the rhodopsins of nine squirrelfishes (N. sammara, N. argenteus, S. punctatissimum, S. microstoma, S. diadema, S. xantherythrum, S. spiniferum, N. aurolineatus, and S. tiere) and two soldierfishes (M. violacea and M. berndti) vary between 481 and 502 nm (Munz and McFarland 1973; Toller 1996). Phylogenetic and mutagenesis analyses suggest that the common ancestor of these pigments had a {lambda}max value of ~493 nm and the contemporary {lambda}max values were generated mostly by amino acid replacements E122M, F261Y, and A292S. The probability of observing all these amino acid replacements at specific branches of the phylogenetic tree is only 2.5 x 10-9; it is highly unlikely that these changes have occurred by neutral evolution. Because of a close association between the {lambda}max values of these pigments and the wavelengths of light available to the corresponding species, the excess number of amino acid changes at specific branches in the phylogenetic tree strongly suggests that the rhodopsins have undergone adaptive changes at various stages of the holocentrid evolution.

Keywords: Squirrelfishes; rhodopsin; adaptive evolution.
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.