Vector Group, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, UK.
Mol Phylogenet Evol. 2011 Mar;58(3):469-77. doi: 10.1016/j.ympev.2011.01.003. Epub 2011 Jan 15.
Many vectors of human malaria belong to complexes of morphologically indistinguishable cryptic species. Here we report the analysis of the newly sequenced complete mitochondrial DNA molecules from six recognized or putative species of one such group, the Neotropical Anopheles albitarsis complex. The molecular evolution of these genomes had been driven by purifying selection, particularly strongly acting on the RNA genes. Directional mutation pressure associated with the strand-asynchronous asymmetric mtDNA replication mechanism may have shaped a pronounced DNA strand asymmetry in the nucleotide composition in these and other Anopheles species. The distribution of sequence polymorphism, coupled with the conflicting phylogenetic trees inferred from the mitochondrial DNA and from the published white gene fragment sequences, indicates that the evolution of the complex may have involved ancient mtDNA introgression. Six protein coding genes (nad5, nad4, cox3, atp6, cox1 and nad2) have high levels of sequence divergence and are likely informative for population genetics studies. Finally, the extent of the mitochondrial DNA variation within the complex supports the notion that the complex consists of a larger number of species than until recently believed.
许多人类疟疾的传播媒介属于形态上无法区分的隐种复合体。在这里，我们报告了对新测序的来自六个公认或假定的此类组，即新热带按蚊 albitaris 复合体的完整线粒体 DNA 分子的分析。这些基因组的分子进化受到纯化选择的驱动，特别是对 RNA 基因的强烈作用。与链非同步不对称 mtDNA 复制机制相关的定向突变压力可能在这些和其他按蚊物种的核苷酸组成中形成了明显的 DNA 链不对称性。序列多态性的分布，加上从线粒体 DNA 和已发表的白色基因片段序列推断出的相互矛盾的系统发育树，表明该复合体的进化可能涉及古老的 mtDNA 渗入。六个蛋白编码基因（nad5、nad4、cox3、atp6、cox1 和 nad2）具有高度的序列差异，可能对种群遗传学研究具有信息性。最后，复合体内部线粒体 DNA 的变异程度支持了这样一种观点，即该复合体由比最近认为的更多的物种组成。
