Mitochondrial DNA. Part A. DNA Mapping, Sequencing, and Analysis

Mitochondrial DNA is a valuable tool for population genetics and evolutionary studies in a wide range of organisms. With advancements in sequencing techniques, it's now possible to gain deeper insights into this molecule. By understanding how many genes there are, how they're organized within the molecule, identifying the presence of spacers, and analyzing the composition of the D-Loop, we can better grasp the rearrangements that play a crucial role in the evolutionary dynamics of mitochondrial DNA. Additionally, phylogenetic analyses benefit significantly from having access to a larger pool of mtDNA genes...

The Rüppell's fox ( Vulpes rueppellii ) inhabits desert regions across North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and southwestern Asia. Its phylogenetic relationship with other fox species, especially within the phylogeographic context of its sister species, V. vulpes , remain unclear. We here report the sequencing and de-novo assembly of the first annotated mitogenome of V. rueppellii , analysed with data from other foxes (tribe Vulpini, subfamily Caninae). We used four bioinformatic approaches to reconstruct the V...

We investigated the vulnerable fish species Schizothorax argentatus Kessler, 1874, using low-coverage whole genome sequencing data. The assembled 16,587 bp mitochondrial genome has a nucleotide composition of A = 29.8%, T = 25.3%, G = 17.9%, and C = 27.0%, containing 13 protein-coding genes, two ribosomal RNA genes, and 22 transfer RNA genes with a gene arrangement identical to other cofamilial species. Phylogenetic analyses of 71 schizothoracine fishes suggest a close relationship between S...

Opsarius siangi sp. nov., a previously undocumented species, has been identified from Siang River, Pasighat, Arunachal Pradesh, India. This newly described species is distinguished by a suite of unique morphological characteristics, notably including a complete lateral line, consisting of 65-77 scales, 32-39 pre-dorsal scales, 12-15 scales positioned between dorsal fin origin and lateral line, presence of two pairs of barbels, body depth ranging from 18.80% to 27.42% of standard length and a distinct pattern of 8-15 vertical bars adorning the body...

We analyzed the mitochondrial DNA of Gekko hokouensis collected from the Izu Islands (maybe an introduced population) and the Nansei Islands (native population), both in Japan. A molecular phylogenetic analysis suggested that G. hokouensis of Japan belongs to a cryptic monophyletic group different from that of the currently discovered sample of China. Furthermore, the Japanese clade of G. hokouensis is differentiated into two subclades (Clade 1 and Clade 2 in this article). In the Nansei Islands, these two subclades form a complicated nested-distribution pattern and do not coexist on any of the islands, whereas both clades appear to coexist in the Izu Islands...

A total of 241 mitochondrial genomes were assembled and annotated from the SRA database to reconstruct a mtDNA genome phylogeny for the genus Drosophila , the family Drosophilidae, and close relatives. The resulting mtDNA genome phylogeny is largely congruent with previous higher-level analyses of Drosophila species with the exception of the relationships between the melanogaster, montium, anannassae, saltans and obscura groups. Although relationships within these species groups are congruent between nuclear and mtDNA studies, the mtDNA genome phylogeny of the groups is different when compared to earlier studies...

Lamiophlomis rotata , the only species within the genus Lamiophlomis (family Labiatae), exhibits a broad geographical distribution in elevated highland areas in Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and possesses significant therapeutic properties. Numerous chemical compositions and putative phylogenetic affiliations of this species have been documented in prior research. Nevertheless, there is a scarcity of accessible publications regarding the genomic data of L. rotata , particularly its chloroplast genome. This dearth of knowledge hampers the comprehensive investigation of its phylogenetic placement within the Labiatae family...

The nine endemic species of the genus Schizothorax from the Yarlung Zangbo River, Tibet comprise a putative cyprinid species flock. In this study, the effectiveness of the COI DNA barcode for Schizothoracinae species identification was verified by using 45 COI sequences covering nine species in four genera of Schizothoracinae fishes. The average Kimura two parameter (K2P) genetic distances within and among species were 0.13% and 8.57%, respectively. The results revealed that most of the species were clearly discriminated by their estimated genetic distances and monophyletic clustering in a maximum likelihood tree...

The Pangani catchment of Northern Tanzania harbours the critically endangered endemic tilapias of the genus Oreochromis . The introduction of non-native congenerics and consequent hybridization complicates taxa identification and phylogeny based on morphological systematics. We therefore morphologically and molecularly identified these tilapias and delimited their Molecular Operational Taxonomic Units (MOTUs) based on Cytochrome Oxidase Subunit I (CO1) gene for future management and conservation. A total of 132 indigenous and introduced tilapia specimens were morphologically identified, barcoded using the CO1 gene and delimited by Kimura 2 Parameter distance approaches, Automatic Barcode Gap Discovery (ABGD), Neighbour Joining (NJ) tree and haplotype analysis...

The giant trevallies ( Caranx ignobilis ) is a globally important fish species that is at risk from overexploitation. In this study, 150  C. ignobilis from six provinces in the Philippines were collected for genetic analyses. For each province, five representative specimens of C. ignobilis were subjected to DNA barcoding and revealed high interspecific K2P distances of 9.58% and 17.29% when compared to other species of Caranx and Carangoides , respectively. On the other hand, all 150  C. ignobilis specimens were subjected to population genetic analysis using the mitochondrial cytochrome b region...

We developed species-specific primers of five microcrustacean preys, Ceriodaphnia richardi , Diaphanosoma cf . brevireme , Daphnia gessneri, Simocephalus serrulatus, Thermocyclops decipiens and Mesocyclops sp., to analyze food-web interactions involving their two insect predators Rheumatobates crassifemur and Martarega uruguayensis distributed in a tropical shallow lake. We designed internal primers of the COI gene (177-282 bp), and tested them, by means of PCR, for specificity and sensitivity. In our tests for specificity, all primers successfully amplified the DNA target but were species-specific failing to amplify the biomarker from any of the other species tested, even in a mixed DNA sample, including predators' DNA...

The starfish Asterias amurensis is a marine pest native to the northwestern Pacific and has successfully invaded southern Australia. Asterias amurensis have caused substantial environmental and economic impacts in both native and non-native regions. However, little information is available about the genetic features of its native populations, especially for those in North China. Here we sequenced the complete mitochondrial genomes of five individuals from different locations in China and compared their characteristics with three mitogenomes available from Japan...

The chilhuil sea catfish ( Bagre panamensis ) is an ecologically relevant species contributing to the structure, organization, and functioning of the ecosystems it inhabits. Also, it is an important artisanal fishery resource in the Mexican Pacific coast. This study aimed to determine the genetic diversity, population structure, and historical demography of B. panamensis in the Mexican Pacific. The mitochondrial DNA was amplified from two distinct regions, r16S and COI, resulting in an 1142 bp of the concatenated genes...

The Serra Spanish mackerel, Scomberomorus brasiliensis , is one of the most important fishery resources in the western tropical Atlantic, including northern and eastern Brazil. Despite its economic importance, few genetic markers have been sequenced in this species, and little is known of its population genetics. The present study evaluated the genetic variability of 110 individuals, representing three distinct Brazilian populations (Macapá, Fortaleza and Paranaguá), based on a segment of the mitochondrial Control Region...

The Spiny Butterfly Ray, Gymnura altavela , is found in tropical and temperate coastal waters with a discontinuous distribution: it occurs along the east coast of the United States of America, Brazil, and Uruguay in the western Atlantic Ocean, from Portugal to Angola in the eastern Atlantic, and also in the Mediterranean Sea. Globally, Gymnura altavela is considered endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Our study analyzed the complete mitochondrial genome of G. altavela sequenced from an individual captured in the western Atlantic and compared it with a mitochondrial genome from a conspecific collected in the Mediterranean to explore if G...

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No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Genetic diversity, genetic structure, and demographic history of the endemic and endangered cyprinid species Alburnus tarichi based on samples from 17 populations consisting of resident and potamodromous specimens from the Lake Van basin in eastern Turkey were analyzed using two mitochondrial DNA markers. A. tarichi populations in the Lake Van basin are genetically heterogeneous, as indicated by the high haplotype and low nucleotide diversity of 1233 bp of the 16S rRNA marker (44 haplotypes; 70 polymorphic sites, haploid diversity ( Hd ) = 0...

Pleistocene climatic changes have played a major role in the evolution of Brazilian Atlantic Forest and South America biodiversity but their impacts on the genetic structure of widely distributed species remain unclear. Here, we investigate mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) diversity in 21 geographical populations of Drosophila sturtevanti , Nucleotide sequences of the cytochrome C oxidase subunits I and II genes ( COI and COII , respectively ) from 163 individuals, showed a significant north-south structure, in spite of an overall low level of variation...

The tenets underlying the use of mtDNA in phylogenetic and systematic analyses are strict maternal inheritance, clonality, homoplasmy, and difference due to mutation: that is, there are species-specific mtDNA sequences and phylogenetic reconstruction is a matter of comparing these sequences and inferring closeness of relatedness from the degree of sequence similarity. Yet, how mtDNA behavior became so defined is mysterious. Even though early studies of fertilization demonstrated for most animals that not only the head, but the sperm's tail and mitochondria-bearing midpiece penetrate the egg, the opposite - only the head enters the egg - became fact, and mtDNA conceived as maternally transmitted...