Test of the correlation between body size and DNA content in Pimelia (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) from the Canary Islands

Title:

Test of the correlation between body size and DNA content in Pimelia (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) from the Canary Islands

Creator:

Palmer, Miquel, Petitpierre, Eduard, and Pons, Joan

Identifier:

https://cdk.lib.cas.cz/client/handle/uuid:44a217cc-92ff-45df-a722-2f0b25fb874e
uuid:44a217cc-92ff-45df-a722-2f0b25fb874e

Subject:

DNA content, comparative methods, phylogenetic inertia, satellite DNA, nucleotypic effects, microdensitometry, mage analysis, and Pimelia (Tenebrionidae, Coleoptera)

Type:

article, model:article, and TEXT

Description:

Comparative analyses of interspecific data in evolutionary biology usually require specific methods to remove the effects of phylogenetic inertia. When phylogenetic inertia is not considered, the Canarian Pimelia species show a positive, and almost significant (Prob. = 0.066) correlation between nuclear genome size and body size. However, after controlling for phylogenetic inertia there was a negative and significant correlation (Prob. = 0.007 to 0.017, depending on the DNA fraction considered). Such a change in the relationship after controlling for phylogenetic inertia is rarely reported. Moreover, the relationship usually reported is positive and thought be a consequence of species having a similar number of cells at the same stage of development. The aim of the present study is to report a case of a negative correlation, but not to explain the causal mechanism involved in genome size variations or propose a formal hypothesis on the specific links between DNA content and body size. However, a common explanation of the change in the relationship, i.e., positive to negative, is suggested. Moreover, the data available on the highly repetitive, non-coding satellite DNA allows us to analyse the specific pattern exhibited by this fraction.

Language:

English

Rights:

http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/
policy:public

Source:

European Journal of Entomology | 2003 Volume:100 | Number:1

Harvested from:

CDK

Metadata only:

false