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Elongation Factor 1 α resolves the monophyly of the haplodiploid ambrosia beetles Xyleborini (Coleoptera: Curculionidae)
Author(s) -
Jordal B. H.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
insect molecular biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.955
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1365-2583
pISSN - 0962-1075
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2583.2002.00354.x
Subject(s) - biology , monophyly , haplodiploidy , phylogenetic tree , polyphyly , sister group , botany , evolutionary biology , clade , genetics , gene , ploidy
Elongation Factor 1‐α was used to test the monophyly of the wood boring beetle tribe Xyleborini, where all species are haplodiploid and perform regular inbreeding by brother–sister mating. Due to their feeding requirements, being highly dependent on ophiostomatoid fungi which they cultivate in wood tunnels, monophyly may be expected due to nutritional constraints. During the course of analyses, two copies of EF‐1α were amplified in these beetles, differing in intron structure. The high similarity between paralogous amino acid sequences (93–94%) indicates a rather recent duplication in beetles, but phylogenetic analyses of different copies in insects rejected this hypothesis. Subsequent phylogenetic analyses of eighty orthologous sequences from Xyleborini and allied taxa, using the single‐intron bearing copy, were greatly improved in resolution and node support by including the intron sequences ( c . 60 bp). Most analyses resulted in a monophyletic Xyleborini, implying one origin of fungus feeding in this tribe. However, clear evidence for a polyphyletic Xyleborus and three more xyleborine genera calls for further revision of xyleborine classification.