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Rate of Fixation of Nucleotide Substitutions in Evolution

Nature volume 224, pages 149–154 (1969)Cite this article

Abstract

Nucleotide sequences of rodents and of artiodactyls have been compared by DNA/DNA duplex formation. The rate of evolution in terms of fixation of nucleotide substitutions inferred from non-repeated artiodactyl DNAs is three times greater than that inferred from comparative amino-acid sequence of the α and β chains of haemoglobin from these same organisms. The initial rate of nucleotide sequence variation among rodents is ten-fold higher than that among artiodactyls when divergence time is estimated in years. This difference diminishes if generations, rather than years, represent the appropriate interval of evolutionary divergence.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology, University of Texas at Austin,

    CHARLES D. LAIRD, BETTY L. McCONAUGHY & BRIAN J. McCARTHY

  2. Departments of Genetics and Microbiology, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington, 98105

    BETTY L. McCONAUGHY & BRIAN J. McCARTHY

Authors
  1. CHARLES D. LAIRD
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  2. BETTY L. McCONAUGHY
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  3. BRIAN J. McCARTHY
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LAIRD, C., McCONAUGHY, B. & McCARTHY, B. Rate of Fixation of Nucleotide Substitutions in Evolution. Nature 224, 149–154 (1969). https://doi.org/10.1038/224149a0

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