Phylogenetic utility of the first two introns of the S7 ribosomal protein gene in African electric fishes (Mormyroidea: Teleostei) and congruence with other molecular markers

A series of recent molecular systematic studies of the African electric fishes (Mormyroidea) have challenged many aspects of their traditional taxonomy and precladistic hypotheses of their phylogeny. However, poor resolution of some interrelationships within the subfamily Mormyrinae in these studies highlights the need for additional data and analyses. Here we evaluate the phylogenetic information content of nucleotide sequences from the first two introns of the low-copy nuclear S7 ribosomal protein gene in 40 mormyroid species. Alignment of S7 sequences from 38 taxa within the subfamily Mormyrinae is non-problematic, but these are difficult to align with sequences of Petrocephalus bovei (Petrocephalinae) and Gymnarchus niloticus (Gymnarchidae), which we exclude from our analysis. There are no significant differences in base frequencies among these sequences and base compositional bias is low. Maximum parsimony (MP) analysis on the S7 dataset, designating Myomyrus macrops as the outgroup, generates a phylogenetic hypothesis for these taxa with a low level of homoplasy (RI = 0.87). We examine agreement between the S7 data with previously published mitochondrial (12S/16S, cytochrome b) and nuclear (rag 2) datasets for the same taxa by means of incongruence length difference tests and partitioned Bremer support (decay) analysis. While we find significant agreement between the S7 dataset and the others, MP analysis of the S7 data alone and in combination with the other datasets indicates two novel relationships within the Mormyrinae: (1) Mormyrus is the sister group to Brienomyrus brachyistius and Isichthys henryi, and (2) Hippopotamyrus pictus is the sister group of a clade, previously recovered, containing Marcusenius senegalensis. S7 data provide additional support for a number of clades recovered in the earlier molecular studies, some of which conflict with current mormyrid taxonomy. Inferred indels and a single inversion in the S7 fragment provide supplemental character support for many of these relationships. These phylogenetic results strengthen recent hypotheses concerning the evolution of electric organ structure in these fishes. The evolutionary characteristics of this nuclear marker and its phylogenetic utility in this group suggests that it could be widely useful for systematic studies at the subfamilial level in teleost fishes. (C) 2003 The Linnean Society of London.