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LENGTH VARIATION AND HETEROPLASMY ARE FREQUENT IN MITOCHONDRIAL DNA FROM PARTHENOGENETIC AND BISEXUAL LIZARDS (GENUS CNEMIDOPHORUS)
Llewellyn D. Densmore 1, John W. Wright 2, and Wesley M. Brown 1
1 Division of Biological Sciences and Museum of Zoology, University
of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
2 Section of Herpetology, Natural History Museum, Los Angeles,
California 90007
Samples of mtDNA isolated from each of 92 lizards representing
all color pattern classes of Cnemidophorus tesselatus and two populations
of C. tigris marmoratus were digested with the restriction endonucleases
MboI, TaqI, RsaI and MspI. The mtDNA fragment
sizes were compared after radioactive labeling and gel electrophoresis. Three
features were notable in the comparisons: (1) there was little variation due
to gain or loss of cleavage sites, (2) two fragments varied noticeably in
length among the samples, one by a variable amount up to a maximum difference
of 
370 base pairs (bp) and the other by a discrete amount of 35 bp, (3)
these two fragments occasionally varied within, as well as between, samples.
Two regions that corresponded in size to these variants were identified by
restriction endonuclease cleavage mapping. One of these is adjacent to the
D-loop. Heteroplasmy, heretofore rarely observed, occurred frequently in these
same two regions. Variability in the copy number of a tandemly repeated 64-bp
sequence appears to be one component of the variation, but others (e.g.
, base substitutions or small additions/deletions) must also be involved.
The frequent occurrence of these length variations suggests either that they
can be generated rapidly or that they were inherited from a highly polymorphic
ancestor. The former interpretation is favored.
Accepted on April 10, 1985
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