Dillon M C, Wright J M
Department of Biology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Mol Biol Evol. 1993 Mar;10(2):296-305. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.molbev.a040005.
We have amplified, by the polymerase chain reaction, and have sequenced the D-loop region of the mitochondrial DNA from the sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus). The sperm whale D-loop was aligned with D-loop sequences from four other cetaceans (Commerson's dolphin, orca, fin whale, and minke whale) and an out-group (cow). This alignment showed the sperm whale sequence to be larger than that of other cetaceans. In addition, some sequence blocks were highly conserved among all six species, suggesting roles in the functioning of mitochondrial DNA. Other blocks that were previously reported to be well conserved among cetaceans showed little sequence conservation with the sperm whale D-loop, which argues against the functional importance of these sequence blocks in cetaceans.
我们通过聚合酶链反应扩增了抹香鲸（Physeter macrocephalus）线粒体DNA的D环区域，并对其进行了测序。将抹香鲸的D环与其他四种鲸类动物（柯氏喙鲸、虎鲸、长须鲸和小须鲸）以及一个外类群（牛）的D环序列进行了比对。比对结果显示，抹香鲸的序列比其他鲸类动物的序列更长。此外，在所有六个物种中，一些序列块高度保守，表明它们在线粒体DNA功能中发挥作用。其他先前报道在鲸类动物中高度保守的序列块，与抹香鲸的D环序列几乎没有序列保守性，这表明这些序列块在鲸类动物中的功能重要性存疑。
