Language
English
Publication Date
10-10-2024
Journal
BMC Biology
DOI
10.1186/s12915-024-02027-4
PMID
39390511
PMCID
PMC11465517
PubMedCentral® Posted Date
10-10-2024
PubMedCentral® Full Text Version
Post-print
Abstract
Background: Mitochondrial genes and nuclear genes cooperate closely to maintain the functions of mitochondria, especially in the oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) pathway. However, mitochondrial genes among arthropod lineages have dramatic evolutionary rate differences. Haplodiploid arthropods often show fast-evolving mitochondrial genes. One hypothesis predicts that the small effective population size of haplodiploid species could enhance the effect of genetic drift leading to higher substitution rates in mitochondrial and nuclear genes. Alternatively, positive selection or compensatory changes in nuclear OXPHOS genes could lead to the fast-evolving mitochondrial genes. However, due to the limited number of arthropod genomes, the rates of evolution for nuclear genes in haplodiploid species, besides hymenopterans, are largely unknown. To test these hypotheses, we used data from 76 arthropod genomes, including 5 independently evolved haplodiploid lineages, to estimate the evolutionary rates and patterns of gene family turnover of mitochondrial and nuclear genes.
Results: We show that five haplodiploid lineages tested here have fast-evolving mitochondrial genes and fast-evolving nuclear genes related to mitochondrial functions, while nuclear genes not related to mitochondrion showed no significant evolutionary rate differences. Among hymenopterans, bees and ants show faster rates of molecular evolution in mitochondrial genes and mitochondrion-related nuclear genes than sawflies and wasps. With genome data, we also find gene family expansions and contractions in mitochondrion-related genes of bees and ants.
Conclusions: Our results reject the small population size hypothesis in haplodiploid species. A combination of positive selection and compensatory changes could lead to the observed patterns in haplodiploid species. The elevated evolutionary rates in OXPHOS complex 2 genes of bees and ants suggest a unique evolutionary history of social hymenopterans.
Keywords
Animals, Evolution, Molecular, Arthropods, Genes, Mitochondrial, Phylogeny, Haploidy, Diploidy, Oxidative Phosphorylation, Cell Nucleus, Gene family evolution, Evolutionary rate, Gene duplication, Oxidative phosphorylation genes, Hymenoptera, Thysanoptera, Phthiraptera, Mesostigmata, Trombidiformes
Published Open-Access
yes
Recommended Citation
Li, Yiyuan; Thomas, Gregg W C; Richards, Stephen; et al., "Rapid Evolution of Mitochondrion-Related Genes in Haplodiploid Arthropods" (2024). Faculty, Staff and Students Publications. 6010.
https://digitalcommons.library.tmc.edu/baylor_docs/6010