Evolutionary analysis of "hagfish amelogenin"

Hagfishes lack mineralized tissues and teeth. Part of a cDNA strand, allege dly from amelogenin, the major gene involved in enamel formation in mammals , has recently been cloned in a hagfish (Slavkin and Diekwish, Anat. Rec., 1996;245:131-150). This cloning is of great interest because it could chang e the current view about the evolution of mineralized tissues, but no phylo genetic analysis of this piece of DNA has been made by the authors. Phylogenetic analysis of this part of cDNA has been conducted using both ph enetic and cladistic methods. The cDNA amplified in hagfish does not fit with a nonmammalian origin but f its well with a degraded rodent sequence. The gene cloned in hagfish is probably of mammalian origin due to contamina tion during PCR. Anat. Rec. 252:608-611, 1998. (C) 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.