Meeting Abstract

S8-1.3  Saturday, Jan. 5  Recent Mitochondrial Approaches to Decapod Phylogeny SCHUBART, Christoph D.; Universit�t Regensburg, Germany christoph.schubart@biologie.uni-regensburg.de

During the past 15 years, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) has become the most widely used molecular marker for phylogenetic reconstructions of decapod Crustacea, with the large ribosomal RNA (16S rRNA) and cytochrome oxidase subunit I (CO1) as the most commonly sequenced genes. Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide dehydrogenase subunit I (ND1) is herewith proposed as another suitable mitochondrial marker (for closely related taxa) with a mutation rate exceeding the one of CO1 in a few presented examples of Decapoda. At the same time that numerous mtDNA phylogenies at the species, genus, family, and order levels have been published, criticism has increased with respect to those studies that rely solely on mitochondrial evidence. It is true that the effect of nuclear copies of mitochondrial genes and introgression are often underestimated when interpreting mitochondrial sequences, and in the present contribution I will provide examples of potential misinterpretation of mitochondrial data due to these phenomena. Nevertheless, mtDNA continues to be one of the most reliable, easy-accessible, and informative sources for documenting evolutionary changes over time, expressed in relatively frequent and mostly neutral mutations that are independently passed along single-copied in all isolated lineages. This characteristic has qualified mtDNA as best possible molecule for genetic barcoding in current and future biodiversity assessments. At higher taxonomic levels, multiple gene sequences and documentation of gene rearrangements within the mtDNA turns out to be very informative for solving ancestral phylogenetic branching patterns.