Jerry Coyne Says Don't Depend on mtDNA

[ShottleBop]

. . . every time, he says, every time, it will get you falling-down drunk, then drive away with your wallet, in your car.

"A new study of polar bears underlines the dangers of reconstructing evolution using mitochondrial DNA".

Even more cool: I own (and like) Why Evolution is True, but I never knew that Coyne had a blog by the same name. Now I can check it from time to time. FaceBook, you did a good thing today (Coyne's blogpost was linked to by another blogger that I follow)!

[beyelzu]

I took an evolutionary biology course last semester wherein we discussed how to use mtdna vs ndna as a method to determine introgression.

Members of Mike Arnold’s lab have tested evolutionary hypotheses in a wide array of organisms – including fungi, plants and animals. In spite of the taxonomic diversity reflected in this work, there is a unifying theme. This theme is well described by the title of a 1954 Evolution paper authored by the plant evolutionary biologists, Edgar Anderson and Ledyard Stebbins – “Hybridization as an Evolutionary Stimulus”. Thus, our group has examined a range of phenomena associated with the process of gene exchange between organisms in nature. The data collected have derived from analyses of population genetics, phylogenetics, reproductive biology, pollinator behavior, eco-physiology, molecular evolution and, most recently, linkage/QTL mapping of fitness traits.

http://www.genetics.uga.edu/people_bio_arnold_m.html

I got the impression that people should already really understand this. Also Arnold pushed hard the idea that you need repeated studies over time to really understand if introgression is occurring.

[fragment]

Thanks! Cool stuff. I've wondered before if the use of plastid DNA - which is widespread in plant evol papers I've read - might generate inaccurate pictures. DNA-based phylogenies have redrawn large swathes of plant systematics in the last decade or so, I wonder how much of that has been based on questionable plastid-based studies?