Wilson A C, Sarich V M, Maxson L R
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1974 Aug;71(8):3028-30. doi: 10.1073/pnas.71.8.3028.
We have compared the relative rates of protein evolution and chromosomal evolution in frogs and mammals. The average rate of change in chromosome number has been about 20 times faster in mammals than in frogs. Whereas it takes only 3.5 million years, on the average, for a pair of mammal species to develop a difference in chromosome number, the corresponding period for frogs is 70 million years. In contrast, the rate of protein evolution in mammals has been roughly equal to that in frogs. The rapid rate of gene rearrangement in mammals parallels both their rapid anatomical evolution and their rapid evolutionary loss of the potential for interspecific hybridization. Thus, gene rearrangements may be more important than point mutations as sources for evolutionary changes in anatomy and way of life.
我们比较了青蛙和哺乳动物蛋白质进化与染色体进化的相对速率。哺乳动物染色体数目的平均变化速率比青蛙快约20倍。一对哺乳动物物种平均只需350万年就能在染色体数目上产生差异，而青蛙的相应时间是7000万年。相比之下，哺乳动物的蛋白质进化速率与青蛙大致相当。哺乳动物中基因重排的快速速率与其快速的解剖学进化以及种间杂交潜力的快速进化丧失并行。因此，作为解剖结构和生活方式进化变化的来源，基因重排比点突变可能更重要。
