Age at first reproduction explains rate variation in the strepsirrhine molecular clock.

Abstract

Although the molecular clock hypothesis posits that the rate of molecular change is constant over time, there is evidence that rates vary among lineages. Some of the strongest evidence for variable molecular rates comes from the primates; e.g., the "hominoid slowdown." These rate differences are hypothesized to correlate with certain species attributes, such as generation time and body size. Here, we examine rates of molecular change in the strepsirrhine suborder of primates and test whether body size or age at first reproduction (a proxy for generation time) explains patterns of rate variation better than a null model where the molecular clock is independent of these factors. To examine these models, we analyzed DNA sequences from four pairs of recently diverged strepsirrhine sister taxa to estimate molecular rates by using sign tests, likelihood ratio tests, and regression analyses. Our analysis does not support a model where body weight or age at first reproduction strongly influences rates of molecular evolution across mitochondrial and nuclear sites. Instead, our analysis supports a model where age at first reproduction influences neutral evolution in the nuclear genome. This study supports the generation time hypothesis for rate variation in the nuclear molecular clock. Molecular clock variation due to generation time may help to resolve the discordance between molecular and paleontological estimates for divergence date estimates in primate evolution.