Zhang Shanxin, Han Jiuqiang, Zhong Dexing, Wang Tuo
Annu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2013;2013:1498-501. doi: 10.1109/EMBC.2013.6609796.
For most of the birds in the word, they can be divided into two main groups, i.e. resident birds and migratory ones. Most of the energy required for long-distance migration is supplied by mitochondria via oxidative phosphorylation. Therefore, the evolutionary constraints acted on the mitochondria DNA (mtDNA) are considered to vary with the locomotive abilities and flight speed. The flight speed is assumed to increase with mass and wing loading according to the fundamental aerodynamic theories, which is common between aves and aircrafts. We compared 148 avian mitochondrial genomes and main physiological parameters. More nonsynonymous nucleotide substitutions than synonymous ones are accumulated in low-speed and flightless birds rather than high-speed flying birds. No matter how the speed is obtained, directly measured or estimated through physiological index. Our results demonstrated that, besides artificial and environmental factors, selective constraints relevant to flight ability play an essential role in the evolution of mtDNA, even it might cause the extinction of avian species.
对于世界上大多数鸟类来说，它们可分为两大类，即留鸟和候鸟。长途迁徙所需的大部分能量由线粒体通过氧化磷酸化提供。因此，作用于线粒体DNA（mtDNA）的进化限制被认为会随运动能力和飞行速度而变化。根据基本空气动力学理论，飞行速度被认为会随着质量和翼载荷的增加而提高，这在鸟类和飞机中是常见的。我们比较了148种鸟类的线粒体基因组和主要生理参数。在低速和不会飞的鸟类中积累的非同义核苷酸替换比同义替换更多，而不是在高速飞行的鸟类中。无论速度是如何获得的，是直接测量还是通过生理指标估算。我们的结果表明，除了人为和环境因素外，与飞行能力相关的选择限制在mtDNA的进化中起着至关重要的作用，甚至可能导致鸟类物种的灭绝。
