2013/08/04 by John H. Herrick, Herrick, John, Bianca Sclavi +1
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Chromosomal and Genetic Variations #Evolution and Genetic Dynamics #FOS: Biological sciences #Genetic diversity and population structure #Genomics (q-bio.GN) #Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies #Populations and Evolution (q-bio.PE)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1308.0798
openalex publication_date 2013/08/04 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Very low levels of genetic diversity have been reported in vertebrates with\nlarge genomes, notably salamanders and lungfish [1-3]. Interpreting differences\nin heterozygosity, which reflects genetic diversity in a population, is\ncomplicated because levels of heterozygosity vary widely between conspecific\npopulations, and correlate with many different physiological and demographic\nvariables such as body size and effective population size. Here we return to\nthe question of genetic variability in salamanders and report on the\nrelationship between evolutionary rates and genome sizes in five different\nsalamander families. We found that rates of evolution are exceptionally low in\nsalamanders as a group. Evolutionary rates are as low as those reported for\ncartilaginous fish, which have the slowest rates recorded so far in vertebrates\n[4]. We also found that, independent of life history, salamanders with the\nsmallest genomes (14 pg) are evolving at rates two to three times faster than\nsalamanders with the largest genomes (>50 pg). After accounting for\nevolutionary duration, we conclude that more recently evolved species have\ncorrespondingly smaller genomes compared to older taxa and concomitantly higher\nrates of mutation and evolution.\n