Comparison of cytochrome b and multilocus divergence date estimates

Range Table - link Myr
Organism Mammals
Reference Nabholz B, Glemin S, Galtier N. 2008. Strong variations of mitochondrial mutation rate across mammals—the longevity hypothesis. Mol Biol Evol 25: 120–130 p.127 table 3PubMed ID17998254
Primary Source See refs beneath table
Method Abstract: "Using an extensive cytochrome b data set, fossil data, and taking advantage of the decoupled dynamics of synonymous and nonsynonymous substitutions, [investigators] measure the lineage-specific mitochondrial mutation rate across 1,696 mammalian species and compare it with the nuclear rate."
Comments P.126 right column 2nd paragraph: "Reliability of Divergence Date Estimates: The estimation of substitution rates heavily relies on the accuracy of date estimates. [Investigators] compared [their] estimated divergence dates with previous molecular studies which combined the information from several genes, including nuclear ones (Hasegawa et al. 2003 primary source Springer et al. 2003 Steppan et al. 2004 primary source Drummond et al. 2006). [Their] cytochrome b date estimates are largely congruent with published ones (table 3), especially for recent divergences (e.g., Homo—Hylobates, Hominidae—Cercopithecidae). Some older divergence dates appear overestimated by the cytochrome b analysis, however, like the primary divergence of Chiroptera or Eulipotyphla (table 3). It should be noted that the oldest divergences are not used to estimate substitution rates because third codon positions are only analyzed within groups of relatively recent origin. Standard deviations around the estimated dates are significantly larger in this study than in multigene analyses, presumably because a single gene is used. [They] incorporated as many fossil calibration points as possible (table 1) and by this way obtained reasonable estimates for recent dates."
Entered by Uri M
ID 112710