Research article
Correlates of substitution rate variation in mammalian protein-coding sequences
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* Corresponding author: John J Welch j.j.welch@ed.ac.uk
BMC Evolutionary Biology 2008, 8:53 doi:10.1186/1471-2148-8-53
- Rate variation does not invalidate the equidistance result that supports the constant mutation rate hypothesis
- Rate variation does not invalidate the equidistance result that supports the constant mutation rate hypothesis
Rate variation does not invalidate the equidistance result that supports the constant mutation rate hypothesis
Shi Huang
(2009-02-05 12:17) The Burnham Institute 
There are data as in your nice paper that support rate variation. Rodents have faster
mutation rate than the great apes. But there are also data that support constant or
similar mutation rate. Thus, all mammals are equidistant to a simpler outgroup such
as birds. The constant mutation rate or molecular clock hypothesis was not invented
for no reason. It cannot be casually dismissed without a cost. The cost is that you
now cannot explain the equidistance result if you allow different species to have
different mutation rates. <br><br>You may find an alternative explanation
of your data in my paper,<br>“Inverse relationship between genetic diversity
and epigenetic complexity” (http://precedings.nature.com/documents/1751/version/2).
<br>
Competing interests
None declared
Rate variation does not invalidate the equidistance result that supports the constant mutation rate hypothesis
Shi Huang (2009-02-11 12:24) The Burnham Institute
There are data as in your nice paper that support rate variation. Rodents have faster mutation rate than the great apes. But there are also data that support constant or similar mutation rate. Thus, all mammals are equidistant to a simpler outgroup such as birds. The constant mutation rate or molecular clock hypothesis was not invented for no reason. It cannot be casually dismissed without a cost. The cost is that you now cannot explain the equidistance result if you allow different species to have different mutation rates.
You may find an alternative explanation of your data in my paper, “Inverse relationship between genetic diversity and epigenetic complexity” (http://precedings.nature.com/documents/1751/version/2).
Competing interests
None declared
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