Figure 3From: Muller's Ratchet and compensatory mutation in Caenorhabditis briggsae mitochondrial genome evolutionHeteroplasmic mitochondrial genome deletions. (A) Amplicons resulting from conventional PCRs with primers flanking the deletion area (primer positions shown in Figure 1) are shown for a subset of isolates analyzed (genomic DNAs were from bulk nematode extracts). Large bands represent intact mitochondrial genomes that contain the ψND5-2 element; small bands represent deletion-bearing genomes. Samples from the two Kenya clade isolates yielded only a single band of intermediate size due to the absence of ψND5-2 in their mitochondrial genomes. -C indicates the negative control (no genomic DNA) and M indicates the molecular marker (1 kb + DNA ladder from Invitrogen). (B) Estimated ND5 deletion frequencies (y axis) from 22 global superclade C. briggsae natural isolates based on qPCR data. TR indicates tropical-clade isolates and TE indicates temperate-clade isolates. Values shown in bar graph are means from four individual nematodes assayed per genotype – error bars show S. E. M.Back to article page