Skip to main content
PMC home page
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences logoLink to Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
. 1999 Feb 22;266(1417):321. doi: 10.1098/rspb.1999.0641

A phylogeny of Darwin's finches based on microsatellite DNA length variation

K Petren, B R Grant, P R Grant
PMCID: PMC1689686

Abstract

Allele length variation at 16 microsatellite loci was used to estimate the phylogeny of 13 out of the 14 species of Darwin's finches. The resulting topology was similar to previous phylogenies based on morphological and allozyme variation. An unexpected result was that genetic divergence among Galápagos Island populations of the warbler finch (Certhidea olivacea) predates the radiation of all other Darwin's finches. This deep split is surprising in view of the relatively weak morphological differentiation among Certhidea populations and supports the hypothesis that the ancestor of all Darwin's finches was phenotypically similar to Certhidea. The results also resolve a biogeographical problem: the Cocos Island finch evolved after the Galápagos finch radiation was under way, supporting the hypothesis that this distant island was colonized from the Galápagos Islands. Monophyletic relationships are supported for both major groups, the ground finches (Geospiza) and the tree finches (Camarhynchus and Cactospiza), although the vegetarian finch (Platyspiza crassirostris) appears to have diverged prior to the separation of ground and tree finches. These results demonstrate the use of microsatellites for reconstructing phylogenies of closely related species and interpreting their evolutionary and biogeographic histories.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (444.0 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Avise J. C., Nelson W. S. Molecular genetic relationships of the extinct dusky seaside sparrow. Science. 1989 Feb 3;243(4891):646–648. doi: 10.1126/science.243.4891.646. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Callen D. F., Thompson A. D., Shen Y., Phillips H. A., Richards R. I., Mulley J. C., Sutherland G. R. Incidence and origin of "null" alleles in the (AC)n microsatellite markers. Am J Hum Genet. 1993 May;52(5):922–927. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Ellegren H., Primmer C. R., Sheldon B. C. Microsatellite 'evolution': directionality or bias? Nat Genet. 1995 Dec;11(4):360–362. doi: 10.1038/ng1295-360. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Fitch W. M., Margoliash E. Construction of phylogenetic trees. Science. 1967 Jan 20;155(3760):279–284. doi: 10.1126/science.155.3760.279. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Garza J. C., Slatkin M., Freimer N. B. Microsatellite allele frequencies in humans and chimpanzees, with implications for constraints on allele size. Mol Biol Evol. 1995 Jul;12(4):594–603. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.molbev.a040239. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Goldstein D. B., Pollock D. D. Launching microsatellites: a review of mutation processes and methods of phylogenetic interference. J Hered. 1997 Sep-Oct;88(5):335–342. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.jhered.a023114. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Goldstein D. B., Ruiz Linares A., Cavalli-Sforza L. L., Feldman M. W. An evaluation of genetic distances for use with microsatellite loci. Genetics. 1995 Jan;139(1):463–471. doi: 10.1093/genetics/139.1.463. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Grant P. R., Grant B. R. Hybridization of bird species. Science. 1992 Apr 10;256(5054):193–197. doi: 10.1126/science.256.5054.193. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Mantel N. The detection of disease clustering and a generalized regression approach. Cancer Res. 1967 Feb;27(2):209–220. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Nauta M. J., Weissing F. J. Constraints on allele size at microsatellite loci: implications for genetic differentiation. Genetics. 1996 Jun;143(2):1021–1032. doi: 10.1093/genetics/143.2.1021. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Ortí G., Pearse D. E., Avise J. C. Phylogenetic assessment of length variation at a microsatellite locus. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1997 Sep 30;94(20):10745–10749. doi: 10.1073/pnas.94.20.10745. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Petren K. Microsatellite primers from Geospiza fortis and cross-species amplification in Darwin's finches. Mol Ecol. 1998 Dec;7(12):1782–1784. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-294x.1998.00518.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Pollock D. D., Bergman A., Feldman M. W., Goldstein D. B. Microsatellite behavior with range constraints: parameter estimation and improved distances for use in phylogenetic reconstruction. Theor Popul Biol. 1998 Jun;53(3):256–271. doi: 10.1006/tpbi.1998.1363. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Primmer C. R., Ellegren H. Patterns of molecular evolution in avian microsatellites. Mol Biol Evol. 1998 Aug;15(8):997–1008. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.molbev.a026015. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Primmer C. R., Møller A. P., Ellegren H. Resolving genetic relationships with microsatellite markers: a parentage testing system for the swallow Hirundo rustica. Mol Ecol. 1995 Aug;4(4):493–498. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-294x.1995.tb00243.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Roy M. S., Geffen E., Smith D., Ostrander E. A., Wayne R. K. Patterns of differentiation and hybridization in North American wolflike canids, revealed by analysis of microsatellite loci. Mol Biol Evol. 1994 Jul;11(4):553–570. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.molbev.a040137. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Takezaki N., Nei M. Genetic distances and reconstruction of phylogenetic trees from microsatellite DNA. Genetics. 1996 Sep;144(1):389–399. doi: 10.1093/genetics/144.1.389. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Weber J. L., Wong C. Mutation of human short tandem repeats. Hum Mol Genet. 1993 Aug;2(8):1123–1128. doi: 10.1093/hmg/2.8.1123. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences are provided here courtesy of The Royal Society

RESOURCES