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Evolution of isoesterase tissue expression patterns in Cavia (Caviidae, Rodentia)

Sandro L. Bonatto^I; Maria Paula Schneider^II; Antonio R. Cordeiro^III

^IDepartamento de Genética, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Caixa Postal 15053, 91501-970 Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil. Fax: (051) 336-2011, (051) 336-4500. E-mail: Sandro@if1.if.ufrgs.br. Send correspondence to S.L.B.
^IIDepartamento de Genética, Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém, PA, Brasil
^IIIDepartamento de Genética, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil

ABSTRACT

We conducted cladistic analysis of isoesterase (EC. 3.1.1.1) gene expression in six tissues for four species of Cavia, to construct a phylogenetic hypothesis for these species and used it to evaluate the dynamics of differentiation in isoenzyme tissue expression patterns (TEP) and their value for phylogenetic reconstruction. The characters considered were the intensity and the presence or absence (P/A) of expression of each isoenzyme locus in each tissue. Twelve of the 19 putative loci presented interspecific variation in at least one tissue. The phylogenetic relationship obtained from 19 intensity characters and eight P/A characters was: ((C. aperea, C. porcellus), (C. fulgida, C. magna)). The cladograms' retention indices were 0.8 for the 19 unordered intensity characters and 1.0 for the eight P/A characters. The results of the present and other works suggest that patterns of gene expression may be used for phylogenetic inference to a wide range of taxonomic levels, from closely related species to the family or higher levels, depending upon the rates of evolution and the age of each group. It was also found that C. magna presented a significantly higher rate of evolution (P < 0.01) for the esterase gene expression than the sister species, C. fulgida. This suggests a non-uniform rate of TEP regulatory evolution and that one should not assume equal rates of evolution among lineages to infer phylogenies from this kind of data.

Keywords: isoesterase; tissue expression; Cavia.

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