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Single Cell Multiplex Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction After Patch-clamp

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Published on: June 20, 2018

"Patchy-tachy" leads to false positives for recombination.

Stephanie Sun¹, Ben J Evans, G Brian Golding

¹Department of Biology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

Molecular Biology and Evolution

|April 19, 2011

Summary

Patchy-tachy evolution in animal mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) can mimic recombination signals. This study shows that varying evolutionary rates, not recombination, often cause false positives in indirect tests, challenging previous findings.

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Area of Science:

Molecular Evolution
Genomics
Bioinformatics

Background:

Indirect tests frequently suggest mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) recombination across diverse animal groups.
However, molecular evolutionary processes can be misinterpreted as recombination by these tests.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the
patchy-tachy
(PT) phenomenon as a source of false positives in recombination detection.
To assess the prevalence of PT in animal mtDNA datasets previously inferred to have recombination.

Main Methods:

Simulated mtDNA evolution under PT models without recombination to quantify false positive rates of six common indirect tests.
Analyzed 20 animal mtDNA datasets using a flexible evolutionary rate model to detect PT.

Main Results:

Simulations revealed 30-99% false positive rates for recombination across tested methods due to PT.
PT was found to be prevalent in numerous animal mtDNA datasets where recombination was previously inferred.

Conclusions:

Patchy-tachy evolution, characterized by varying sequence evolutionary rates, provides a plausible alternative explanation for widespread "recombination" signals in animal mtDNA.
Re-evaluation of indirect recombination detection methods and their assumptions is warranted.