Despite its economic and biological importance, the family Bovidae (of cattle, antelopes, goats, and gazelles) remains problematical in its phylogenetic relationships. Previous work by Dr. Michael Miyamoto of the University of Florida indicates that data from sequence analyses of mitochondrial ribosomal RNA and transfer RNA genes provide sufficient resolution to construct a phylogeny for this animal group. Current work will focus on four objectives: 1) to isolate, clone, and sequence mitochondrial DNA from representatives of all ten subfamilies of Bovidae; 2) to construct evolutionary branching diagrams of bovids from the mitochondrial dataset; 3) to compare these results against other molecular data acquired from nuclear genes for patterns of congruence; and 4) to investigate the tempo and mode of evolution of mitochondrial rRNA and tRNA genes. The ample fossil record of bovids will help establish calibration points in this analysis of molecular evolution. Dr. Miyamoto is a Presidential Young Investigator who has shown great promise in the new field of molecular systematics and evolution.
