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Highly conserved nuclear copies of the mitochondrial control region in the desert locust Schistocerca gregaria : some implications for population studies
Author(s) -
ZHANG DEXING,
HEWITT GODFREY M.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
molecular ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.619
H-Index - 225
eISSN - 1365-294X
pISSN - 0962-1083
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-294x.1996.00078.x
Subject(s) - biology , schistocerca , desert locust , mitochondrial dna , population , intraspecific competition , genetics , evolutionary biology , genome , nuclear dna , locust , zoology , ecology , gene , demography , sociology
Animal mitochondrial DNA has proved a valuable marker in intraspecific systematic studies. However, if nucleotide sequence heterogeneity exists at the individual level, its usefulness will be much reduced. This study demonstrates that the presence of highly conserved non‐coding mitochondrial sequences in the nuclear genome of Schistocerca gregaria greatly impairs the use of mtDNA in population genetic studies. Caution is called for in other organisms; and it seems necessary to check for conserved nuclear copies of mitochondrial sequences before launching into a large scale analysis of populations using mtDNA as a genetic marker. Experimental procedures are suggested for this purpose.