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Phylogenetic analysis of Euthyneura (Gastropoda) by means of the 16S rRNA gene: use of a 'fast' gene for 'higher-level' phylogenies

ABSTRACT: The phylogeny of Euthyneura is analysed by using DNA sequences of the mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene. Despite the common notion that this gene is too variable to provide useful information at high taxonomic levels, such as in the present study, bootstrap proportions are high for several clades in the study. This indicates that there is a useful amount of variation despite the noise due to multiple substitutions. The analyses furthermore indicate that (i) Gymnosomata (represented by Clione) is not a part of Euthyneura, but Clione forms a clade with the caenogastropods; (ii) Acteon is the sister group to the remaining euthyneuran taxa in the study; (iii) the nudibranch taxa form two clades, one comprising Dendronotoidea, Arminoidea and Aeolidoidea (together Cladobranchia) with Notaspidea (represented by Berthella) as sister group, while the fourth nudibranch taxon, Doridoidea, forms a separate clade; (iv) Cephalaspidea s.s. and Anaspidea form clades that are each other's sister groups (together Pleurocoela). Finally, there is no clade present in the analyses corresponding to the taxon Opisthobranchia in the traditional sense, and the use of this name is probably better abandoned altogether.

SUBMITTER: Thollesson M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1689638 | biostudies-literature | 1999 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:BackgroundThe 16S rRNA gene is used extensively in bacterial phylogenetics, in species delineation, and now widely in microbiome studies. However, the gene suffers from intragenomic heterogeneity, and reports of recombination and an unreliable phylogenetic signal are accumulating. Here, we compare core gene phylogenies to phylogenies constructed using core gene concatenations to estimate the strength of signal for the 16S rRNA gene, its hypervariable regions, and all core genes at the intra- and inter-genus levels. Specifically, we perform four intra-genus analyses (Clostridium, n = 65; Legionella, n = 47; Staphylococcus, n = 36; and Campylobacter, n = 17) and one inter-genus analysis [41 core genera of the human gut microbiome (31 families, 17 orders, and 12 classes), n = 82].ResultsAt both taxonomic levels, the 16S rRNA gene was recombinant and subject to horizontal gene transfer. At the intra-genus level, the gene showed one of the lowest levels of concordance with the core genome phylogeny (50.7% average). Concordance for hypervariable regions was lower still, with entropy masking providing little to no benefit. A major factor influencing concordance was SNP count, which showed a positive logarithmic association. Using this relationship, we determined that 690 ± 110 SNPs were required for 80% concordance (average 16S rRNA gene SNP count was 254). We also found a wide range in 16S-23S-5S rRNA operon copy number among genomes (1-27). At the inter-genus level, concordance for the whole 16S rRNA gene was markedly higher (73.8% - 10th out of 49 loci); however, the most concordant hypervariable regions (V4, V3-V4, and V1-V2) ranked in the third quartile (62.5 to 60.0%).ConclusionsRamifications of a poor phylogenetic performance for the 16S rRNA gene are far reaching. For example, in addition to incorrect species/strain delineation and phylogenetic inference, it has the potential to confound community diversity metrics if phylogenetic information is incorporated - for example, with popular approaches such as Faith's phylogenetic diversity and UniFrac. Our results highlight the problematic nature of these approaches and their use (along with entropy masking) is discouraged. Lastly, the wide range in 16S rRNA gene copy number among genomes also has a strong potential to confound diversity metrics. Video Abstract.

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Phylogenetic analysis of Euthyneura (Gastropoda) by means of the 16S rRNA gene: use of a 'fast' gene for 'higher-level' phylogenies

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