Structure and Patterns of Sequence Variation in the Mitochondrial DNA Control Region of the Great Cats

Authors

• Jae-Heup Kim, National Cancer Institute at Frederick
• Eduardo Eizirik, National Cancer Institute at Frederick
• Stephen J. O'Brien, National Cancer Institute at FrederickFollow
• Warren E. Johnson, National Cancer Institute at Frederick

ORCID

0000-0001-7353-8301

ResearcherID

N-1726-2015

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Mitochondrion

ISSN

1567-7249

Publication Date

10-2001

Keywords

Mitochondrial DNA, Control region, Heteroplasmy, Panthera genus, Felidae, Phylogenetic analyses

Abstract

Mitochondrial DNA control region structure and variation were determined in the five species of the genus Panthera. Comparative analyses revealed two hypervariable segments, a central conserved region, and the occurrence of size and sequence heteroplasmy. As observed in the domestic cat, but not commonly seen in other animals, two repetitive sequence arrays (RS-2 with an 80-bp motif and RS-3 with a 6–10-bp motif) were identified. The 3′ ends of RS-2 and RS-3 were highly conserved among species, suggesting that these motifs have different functional constraints. Control region sequences provided improved phylogenetic resolution grouping the sister taxa lion (Panthera leo) and leopard (Panthera pardus), with the jaguar (Panthera onca).

Volume

1

Issue

3

First Page

279

Last Page

292

Comments

©2001 Elsevier B. V.

NSUWorks Citation

Kim, Jae-Heup; Eduardo Eizirik; Stephen J. O'Brien; and Warren E. Johnson. 2001. "Structure and Patterns of Sequence Variation in the Mitochondrial DNA Control Region of the Great Cats." Mitochondrion 1, (3): 279-292. https://nsuworks.nova.edu/cnso_bio_facarticles/634