Premium
Hit or miss in phylogeographic analyses: the case of the cryptic NUMTs
Author(s) -
BERTHEAU CORALIE,
SCHULER HANNES,
KRUMBÖCK SUSANNE,
ARTHOFER WOLFGANG,
STAUFFER CHRISTIAN
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
molecular ecology resources
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.96
H-Index - 136
eISSN - 1755-0998
pISSN - 1755-098X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1755-0998.2011.03050.x
Subject(s) - biology , mitochondrial dna , species complex , phylogeography , evolutionary biology , haplotype , dna barcoding , phylogenetics , computational biology , genetics , phylogenetic tree , gene , genotype
Phylogeographic studies call for attention as nuclear copies of mitochondrial DNA (NUMT) may generate erroneous results. Here, we report the presence of NUMTs differing only by 1–3 bp from authentic mitochondrial haplotypes, consequently named cryptic NUMTs. In contrast to traditional NUMTs, for which reliable tools for detection are established, cryptic NUMTs question the validity of phylogeographic analyses based solely on mitochondrial DNA, like the one presented here on the European bark beetle Ips typographus . Caution is called as cryptic NUMTs might be responsible for haplotype richness found in several species, and the necessity of refined methods for NUMT detection is highlighted.