Rampant historical mitochondrial genome introgression between two species of green pond frogs Pelophylax nigromaculatus and P. plancyi

摘要

BackgroundMitochondrial introgression may result in the mitochondrial genome of one species being replaced by that of another species without leaving any trace of past hybridization in its nuclear genome. Such introgression can confuse the species genealogy estimates and lead to absurd inferences of species history. We used a phylogenetic approach to explore the potential mitochondrial genome introgression event(s) between two closely related green pond frog species, Pelophylax nigromaculatus and P. plancyi.