Santourlidis Simeon
Epigenetics Core Laboratory, Institute of Transplantation Diagnostics and Cell Therapeutics, Medical Faculty, Heinrich-Heine University Duesseldorf, Moorenstr. 5, 40225 Duesseldorf, Germany.
Biology (Basel). 2022 May 15;11(5):754. doi: 10.3390/biology11050754.
Traditionally, phylogenetic interspecies relationships are estimated based on genetic diversity, since it is assumed that the more recently diverged a species, with comparable constancy of development, the more similar their genetic material and proteins should be. However, occasional controversies in the field may reflect limited resolution and accuracy of this approach. Epigenetics has, meanwhile, provided significant evidence that CpG dinucleotides (CpGs) within genetic material are of particular importance for the annotation and function of the genome and the formation of the phenotype, which is continuously shaped by evolutionary interaction with environmental factors. Based on this, it can be concluded that CpGs follow a distinct rate of evolution, compared to all other nucleotide positions. Evidence is provided that supports this conclusion. Therefore, using CpGs to fathom evolutionary relationships between species could turn out to be a valuable approach to achieve, in some cases, an improved understanding of evolutionary development.
传统上，系统发育种间关系是基于遗传多样性来估计的，因为人们认为，在发育稳定性相当的情况下，一个物种分化的时间越近，其遗传物质和蛋白质就应该越相似。然而，该领域偶尔出现的争议可能反映了这种方法的分辨率和准确性有限。与此同时，表观遗传学提供了重要证据，表明遗传物质中的CpG二核苷酸（CpGs）对于基因组的注释和功能以及表型的形成尤为重要，而表型是由与环境因素的进化相互作用不断塑造的。基于此，可以得出结论，与所有其他核苷酸位置相比，CpGs遵循独特的进化速率。文中提供了支持这一结论的证据。因此，利用CpGs来探究物种间的进化关系可能会成为一种有价值的方法，在某些情况下有助于更好地理解进化发展。
