| spectrum of mhc class ii variability in darwin's finches and their close relatives. | the study describes >400 major histocompatibility complex (mhc) class ii b exon 2 and 114 intron 2 sequences of 36 passerine bird species, 13 of which belong to the group of darwin's finches (dfs) and the remaining 23 to close or more distant relatives of dfs in central and south america. the data set is analyzed by a combination of judiciously selected statistical methods. the analysis reveals that reliable information concerning mhc organization, including the assignment of sequences to loci, ... | 2011 | 21273633 |
| evolution of mhc class ii b genes in darwin's finches and their closest relatives: birth of a new gene. | the 15 extant species of darwin's finches on the galápagos and cocos islands are the products of an unfinished adaptive radiation from a founder flock of birds related to the south american species tiaris obscura. molecular characterization of their major histocompatibility complex ( mhc) class ii b genes has revealed the existence of several related groups of sequences (presumably encoded in distinct loci) from which one (group 5) stands out because of its low divergence over extended time peri ... | 2001 | 11862412 |
| on the origin of darwin's finches. | darwin's finches comprise a group of 15 species endemic to the galápagos (14 species) and cocos (1 species) islands in the pacific ocean. the group is monophyletic and originated from an ancestral species that reached the galápagos archipelago from central or south america. descendants of this ancestor on the archipelago then colonized cocos island. in the present study, we used sequences of two mitochondrial (mt) dna segments (922 bp of the cytochrome b gene and 1,082 bp of the control region), ... | 2001 | 11230531 |