Mitochondrial DNA sequences - Introduction

The blue tit species complex includes C. caeruleus, found throughout Europe, C. teneriffae, found in North Africa and the Canary Islands, and C. cyanus, found in Asia and eastern Europe. Mitochondrial DNA data can be used to investigate the phylogeography and population structure of these species.

The dataset provided here comprises 34 sequences from the mitochondrial DNA control region of C. caeruleus and C. teneriffae. A sequence from the great tit Parus major is also included, as this would be a suitable outgroup for phylogenetic analysis.

The table below gives sampling location and codes for the sequences in this tutorial

CodeSpeciesOrigin
CEHC. teneriffaeCanary Islands - El Hierro
CFUC. teneriffaeCanary Islands - Fuerteventura
CGCC. teneriffaeCanary Islands - Gran Canaria
CLGC. teneriffaeCanary Islands - La Gomera
CLPC. teneriffaeCanary Islands - La Palma
CLAC. teneriffaeCanary Islands - Lanzarote
CTEC. teneriffaeCanary Islands - Tenerife
MCEC. teneriffaeMorocco - Ceuta
ECAC. caeruleusSpain - Cadiz
SREC. caeruleusSweden - Revinge
GBC. caeruleusGreat Britain - Oxford
PmajP. majorSweden - Kvismaren

Exercise 1 continued: Editing mitochondrial DNA sequences

Exercise 2: Handling bidirectional nuclear sequence data