Figure 1.
The most parsimonious tree generated from analysis of 138 Alu insertions in Lemuriformes.
The amplification patterns of the Alu insertions were used to construct a Dollo parsimony tree of phylogenetic relationships with G. senegalensis and H. sapiens as outgroups using the MESQUITE and PAUP* programs. Numbers above branches are bootstrap values. The significance level of each node supported by insertions as determined by likelihood testing is indicated by either *(p<0.05) or **(p<0.01). Numbers below arrows indicate the number of unambiguous loci supporting that node. Numbers in brackets below arrows indicate the number of loci at a given informative node identified by McLain et al. (2012). Numbers in parentheses represent insertions that are only present in one species or group. These insertions are not parsimony-informative. Consistency index (CI): 1.000; Homoplasy index (HI): 0.000; Retention index (RI): 1.000.
Table 1.
DNA samples of all species examined in this study.
Figure 2.
PCR amplification of polymorphic Alu insertions in Lemuriformes.
Gel photographs displaying the methodology for establishing evolutionary relationships using Alu elements. The presence and absence of elements, supplemented by sequencing to eliminate the possibility of confounding events, is used to determine which species are more closely related. A total of 5 gel electrophoresis results on a 24-species primate panel are shown with H. sapiens and G. senegalensis as outgroups. A: Amplification of locus Str71B, an Alu insertion shared by the infraorder Lemuriformes. B: Amplification of locus MmA39, an Alu insertion shared by the family Cheirogaleidae. C: Amplification of locus MmA27, an Alu insertion shared by the sister genera Microcebus and Mirza. D: Amplification of locus Str59, an Alu insertion specific to the genus Microcebus. E: Amplification of locus Em6, an Alu insertion affirming the monophyly of the family Lemuridae to the exclusion of other lemur species and outgroups.