re-mind the gap! insertion – deletion data reveal neglected phylogenetic potential of the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (its) of fungire-mind差距!.pdfVIP

Re-Mind the Gap! Insertion – Deletion Data Reveal Neglected Phylogenetic Potential of the Nuclear Ribosomal Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS) of Fungi ´ ´ 1,2 ´ ´ 1 ´ ´ 1 ´ ´ 3,4 ´ 1 Laszlo G. Nagy *, Sandor Kocsube , Zoltan Csanadi , Gabor M. Kovacs , Tamas Petkovits , ´ ¨ 1 ´ 1 Csaba Vagvolgyi , Tamas Papp 1 University of Szeged, Faculty of Science and Informatics, Department of Microbiology, Szeged, Hungary, 2 Clark University, Biology Department, Worcester, ¨ ¨ ´ Massachussetts, Unikted States of America, 3 Institute of Biology, Department of Plant Anatomy, Eotvos Lorand University, Budapest, Hungary, 4 Plant Protection Institute, Centre for Agricultural Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary Abstract Rapidly evolving, indel-rich phylogenetic markers play a pivotal role in our understanding of the relationships at multiple levels of the tree of life. There is extensive evidence that indels provide conserved phylogenetic signal, however, the range of phylogenetic depths for which gaps retain tree signal has not been investigated in detail. Here we address this question using the fungal internal transcribed spacer (ITS), which is central in many phylogenetic studies, molecular ecology, detection and identification of pathogenic and non-pathogenic species. ITS is repeatedly criticized for indel-induced alignment problems and the lack of phylogenetic resolution above species level, although these have not been critically investigated. In this study, we examined whether the inclusion of gap characters in the