More than 1000 ultraconserved elements provide evidence that turtles are the sister group of archosaurs

We present the first genomic-scale analysis addressing the phylogenetic position of turtles, using over 1000 loci from representatives of all major reptile lineages including tuatara. Previously, studies of morphological traits positioned turtles either at the base of the reptile tree or with lizard...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Biology letters (2005) 2012-10, Vol.8 (5), p.783-786
Main Authors: Crawford, Nicholas G., Faircloth, Brant C., McCormack, John E., Brumfield, Robb T., Winker, Kevin, Glenn, Travis C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Archosaurs
Bayes Theorem
Biological Evolution
Birds - physiology
Computational Biology - methods
Conserved Sequence
Databases, Factual
Evolution
Evolution, Molecular
Evolutionary Biology
Gene Library
Genomics
MicroRNAs - metabolism
Models, Statistical
Phylogenomics
Phylogeny
Sequence Analysis, DNA
Turtles
Turtles - physiology
Ultraconserved Elements
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Summary:We present the first genomic-scale analysis addressing the phylogenetic position of turtles, using over 1000 loci from representatives of all major reptile lineages including tuatara. Previously, studies of morphological traits positioned turtles either at the base of the reptile tree or with lizards, snakes and tuatara (lepidosaurs), whereas molecular analyses typically allied turtles with crocodiles and birds (archosaurs). A recent analysis of shared microRNA families found that turtles are more closely related to lepidosaurs. To test this hypothesis with data from many single-copy nuclear loci dispersed throughout the genome, we used sequence capture, high-throughput sequencing and published genomes to obtain sequences from 1145 ultraconserved elements (UCEs) and their variable flanking DNA. The resulting phylogeny provides overwhelming support for the hypothesis that turtles evolved from a common ancestor of birds and crocodilians, rejecting the hypothesized relationship between turtles and lepidosaurs.
ISSN:1744-9561
1744-957X
DOI:10.1098/rsbl.2012.0331