scholarly journals Mitochondrial genome evolution of placozoans: gene rearrangements and repeat expansions

Author(s):  
Hideyuki Miyazawa ◽  
Hans-Jürgen Osigus ◽  
Sarah Rolfes ◽  
Kai Kamm ◽  
Bernd Schierwater ◽  
...  

Abstract Placozoans, non-bilaterian animals with the simplest known metazoan bauplan, are currently classified into 20 haplotypes belonging to three genera, Polyplacotoma, Trichoplax, and Hoilungia. The latter two comprise two and five clades, respectively. In Trichoplax and Hoilungia, previous studies on six haplotypes belonging to four different clades have shown that their mtDNA are circular chromosomes of 32-43 kbp in size, which encode 12 protein-coding genes, 24 tRNAs, and 2 rRNAs. These mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) also show unique features rarely seen in other metazoans, including open reading frames (ORFs) of unknown function, and group I and II introns. Here, we report seven new mitogenomes, covering the five previously described haplotypes H2, H17, H19, H9, and H11, as well as two new haplotypes, H23 (clade III) and H24 (clade VII). The overall gene content is shared between all placozoan mitochondrial genomes, but genome sizes, gene orders, and several exon-intron boundaries vary among clades. Phylogenomic analyses strongly support a tree topology different from previous 16S rRNA analyses, with clade VI as the sister group to all other Hoilungia clades. We found small inverted repeats in all 13 mitochondrial genomes of the Trichoplax and Hoilungia genera and evaluated their distribution patterns among haplotypes. Since P. mediterranea (H0), the sister to the remaining haplotypes, has a small mitochondrial genome with few small inverted repeats and ORFs, we hypothesized that the proliferation of inverted repeats and ORFs substantially contributed to the observed increase in the size and GC content of the Trichoplax and Hoilungia mitochondrial genomes.

ZooKeys ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 925 ◽  
pp. 73-88
Author(s):  
Chaoyi Hu ◽  
Shuaibin Wang ◽  
Bisheng Huang ◽  
Hegang Liu ◽  
Lei Xu ◽  
...  

Scolopendra mutilans L. Koch, 1878 is an important Chinese animal with thousands of years of medicinal history. However, the genomic information of this species is limited, which hinders its further application. Here, the complete mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) of S. mutilans was sequenced and assembled by next-generation sequencing. The genome is 15,011 bp in length, consisting of 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 14 tRNA genes, and two rRNA genes. Most PCGs start with the ATN initiation codon, and all PCGs have the conventional stop codons TAA and TAG. The S. mutilans mitogenome revealed nine simple sequence repeats (SSRs), and an obviously lower GC content compared with other seven centipede mitogenomes previously sequenced. After analysis of homologous regions between the eight centipede mitogenomes, the S. mutilans mitogenome further showed clear genomic rearrangements. The phylogenetic analysis of eight centipedes using 13 conserved PCG genes was finally performed. The phylogenetic reconstructions showed Scutigeromorpha as a separate group, and Scolopendromorpha in a sister-group relationship with Lithobiomorpha and Geophilomorpha. Collectively, the S. mutilans mitogenome provided new genomic resources, which will improve its medicinal research and applications in the future.


PeerJ ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. e6866 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gengyun Niu ◽  
Yaoyao Zhang ◽  
Zhenyi Li ◽  
Meicai Wei

A new genus with a new species of the tribe Hoplocampini of Hoplocampinae was described from China: Analcellicampa xanthosoma Wei & Niu, gen. et sp. nov. Hoplocampa danfengensis G. Xiao 1994 was designated as the type species of the new genus. The characters of Analcellicampa danfengensis (G. Xiao) comb. nov. were briefly discussed. A key to the tribes and known genera of Hoplocampinae was provided. The nearly complete mitochondrial genome of A. xanthosoma was characterized as having a length of 15,512 bp and containing 37 genes (22 tRNAs, 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), and 2 rRNAs). The gene order of this new specimen was the same as that in the inferred insect ancestral mitochondrial genome. All PCGs were initiated by ATN codons and ended with TAA or T stop codons. All tRNAs had a typical cloverleaf secondary structure, except for trnS1. Remarkably, the helices H991 of rrnS and H47 of rrnL were redundant, while helix H563 of rrnL was highly conserved. A phylogeny based on previously reported symphytan mitochondrial genomes showed that A. xanthosoma is a sister group to Monocellicampa pruni, with high support values. We suggest that A. xanthosoma and M. pruni belong to the tribe Hoplocampini of Hoplocampinae.


PeerJ ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. e8356
Author(s):  
Darrin T. Schultz ◽  
Jordan M. Eizenga ◽  
Russell B. Corbett-Detig ◽  
Warren R. Francis ◽  
Lynne M. Christianson ◽  
...  

To date, five ctenophore species’ mitochondrial genomes have been sequenced, and each contains open reading frames (ORFs) that if translated have no identifiable orthologs. ORFs with no identifiable orthologs are called unidentified reading frames (URFs). If truly protein-coding, ctenophore mitochondrial URFs represent a little understood path in early-diverging metazoan mitochondrial evolution and metabolism. We sequenced and annotated the mitochondrial genomes of three individuals of the beroid ctenophore Beroe forskalii and found that in addition to sharing the same canonical mitochondrial genes as other ctenophores, the B. forskalii mitochondrial genome contains two URFs. These URFs are conserved among the three individuals but not found in other sequenced species. We developed computational tools called pauvre and cuttlery to determine the likelihood that URFs are protein coding. There is evidence that the two URFs are under negative selection, and a novel Bayesian hypothesis test of trinucleotide frequency shows that the URFs are more similar to known coding genes than noncoding intergenic sequence. Protein structure and function prediction of all ctenophore URFs suggests that they all code for transmembrane transport proteins. These findings, along with the presence of URFs in other sequenced ctenophore mitochondrial genomes, suggest that ctenophores may have uncharacterized transmembrane proteins present in their mitochondria.


Genetics ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 143 (2) ◽  
pp. 777-788 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carole H Sellem ◽  
Yves d'Aubenton-Carafa ◽  
Michèle Rossignol ◽  
Léon Belcour

Abstract The mitochondrial genome of 23 wild-type strains belonging to three different species of The mitochondrial genome the filamentous fungus Podospora was examined. Among the 15 optional sequences identified are two intronic reading frames, nad1-i4-orf1 and cox1-i7-orf2. We show that the presence of these sequences was strictly correlated with tightly clustered nucleotide substitutions in the adjacent exon. This correlation applies to the presence or absence of closely related open reading frames (ORFs), found at the same genetic locations, in all the Pyrenomycete genera examined. The recent gain of these optional ORFs in the evolution of the genus Podospora probably account for such sequence differences. In the homoplasmic progeny from heteroplasmons constructed between Podospora strains differing by the presence of these optional ORFs, nad1-i4-orf1 and cox1-i7-orf2 appeared highly invasive. Sequence comparisons in the nad1-i4 intron of various strains of the Pyrenomycete family led us to propose a scenario of its evolution that includes several events of loss and gain of intronic ORFs. These results strongly reinforce the idea that group I intronic ORFs are mobile elements and that their transfer, and comcomitant modification of the adjacent exon, could participate in the modular evolution of mitochondrial genomes.


Insects ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 779 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ke-Ke Xu ◽  
Qing-Ping Chen ◽  
Sam Pedro Galilee Ayivi ◽  
Jia-Yin Guan ◽  
Kenneth B. Storey ◽  
...  

Insects of the order Phasmatodea are mainly distributed in the tropics and subtropics and are best known for their remarkable camouflage as plants. In this study, we sequenced three complete mitochondrial genomes from three different families: Orestes guangxiensis, Peruphasma schultei, and Phryganistria guangxiensis. The lengths of the three mitochondrial genomes were 15,896 bp, 16,869 bp, and 17,005 bp, respectively, and the gene composition and structure of the three stick insects were identical to those of the most recent common ancestor of insects. The phylogenetic relationships among stick insects have been chaotic for a long time. In order to discuss the intra- and inter-ordinal relationship of Phasmatodea, we used the 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs) of 85 species for maximum likelihood (ML) and Bayesian inference (BI) analyses. Results showed that the internal topological structure of Phasmatodea had a few differences in both ML and BI trees and long-branch attraction (LBA) appeared between Embioptera and Zoraptera, which led to a non-monophyletic Phasmatodea. Consequently, after removal of the Embioptera and Zoraptera species, we re-performed ML and BI analyses with the remaining 81 species, which showed identical topology except for the position of Tectarchus ovobessus (Phasmatodea). We recovered the monophyly of Phasmatodea and the sister-group relationship between Phasmatodea and Mantophasmatodea. Our analyses also recovered the monophyly of Heteropterygidae and the paraphyly of Diapheromeridae, Phasmatidae, Lonchodidae, Lonchodinae, and Clitumninae. In this study, Peruphasma schultei (Pseudophasmatidae), Phraortes sp. YW-2014 (Lonchodidae), and species of Diapheromeridae clustered into the clade of Phasmatidae. Within Heteropterygidae, O. guangxiensis was the sister clade to O. mouhotii belonging to Dataminae, and the relationship of (Heteropteryginae + (Dataminae + Obriminae)) was recovered.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu Sun ◽  
Hua Huang ◽  
Yudong Liu ◽  
Shanshan Liu ◽  
Jun Xia ◽  
...  

AbstractIn this study, we analyzed the complete mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) of Speiredonia retorta, which is a pest and a member of the Lepidoptera order. In total, the S. retorta mitogenome was found to contain 15,652 base pairs encoding 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 tRNAs, 2 rRNAs, as well as an adenine (A) + thymine (T)-rich region. These findings were consistent with the mitogenome composition of other lepidopterans, as we identified all 13 PCGs beginning at ATN codons. We also found that 11 PCGs terminated with canonical stop codons, whereas cox2 and nad4 exhibited incomplete termination codons. By analyzing the mitogenome of S. retorta using Bayesian inference (BI) and maximum likelihood (ML) models, we were able to further confirm that this species is a member of the Erebidae family.


2007 ◽  
Vol 81 (10) ◽  
pp. 5395-5406 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yongjie Wang ◽  
Regina G. Kleespies ◽  
Alois M. Huger ◽  
Johannes A. Jehle

ABSTRACT The Gryllus bimaculatus nudivirus (GbNV) infects nymphs and adults of the cricket Gryllus bimaculatus (Orthoptera: Gryllidae). GbNV and other nudiviruses such as Heliothis zea nudivirus 1 (HzNV-1) and Oryctes rhinoceros nudivirus (OrNV) were previously called “nonoccluded baculoviruses” as they share some similar structural, genomic, and replication aspects with members of the family Baculoviridae. Their relationships to each other and to baculoviruses are elucidated by the sequence of the complete genome of GbNV, which is 96,944 bp, has an AT content of 72%, and potentially contains 98 predicted protein-coding open reading frames (ORFs). Forty-one ORFs of GbNV share sequence similarities with ORFs found in OrNV, HzNV-1, baculoviruses, and bacteria. Most notably, 15 GbNV ORFs are homologous to the baculovirus core genes, which are associated with transcription (lef-8, lef-9, lef-4, vlf-1, and lef-5), replication (dnapol), structural proteins (p74, pif-1, pif-2, pif-3, vp91, and odv-e56), and proteins of unknown function (38K, ac81, and 19kda). Homologues to these baculovirus core genes have been predicted in HzNV-1 as well. Six GbNV ORFs are homologous to nonconserved baculovirus genes dnaligase, helicase 2, rr1, rr2, iap-3, and desmoplakin. However, the remaining 57 ORFs revealed no homology or poor similarities to the current gene databases. No homologous repeat (hr) sequences but fourteen short direct repeat (dr) regions were detected in the GbNV genome. Gene content and sequence similarity suggest that the nudiviruses GbNV, HzNV-1, and OrNV form a monophyletic group of nonoccluded double-stranded DNA viruses, which separated from the baculovirus lineage before this radiated into dipteran-, hymenopteran-, and lepidopteran-specific clades of occluded nucleopolyhedroviruses and granuloviruses. The accumulated information on the GbNV genome suggests that nudiviruses form a highly diverse and phylogenetically ancient sister group of the baculoviruses, which have evolved in a variety of highly divergent host orders.


2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (11) ◽  
pp. e2016274118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia V. Halo ◽  
Amanda L. Pendleton ◽  
Feichen Shen ◽  
Aurélien J. Doucet ◽  
Thomas Derrien ◽  
...  

Technological advances have allowed improvements in genome reference sequence assemblies. Here, we combined long- and short-read sequence resources to assemble the genome of a female Great Dane dog. This assembly has improved continuity compared to the existing Boxer-derived (CanFam3.1) reference genome. Annotation of the Great Dane assembly identified 22,182 protein-coding gene models and 7,049 long noncoding RNAs, including 49 protein-coding genes not present in the CanFam3.1 reference. The Great Dane assembly spans the majority of sequence gaps in the CanFam3.1 reference and illustrates that 2,151 gaps overlap the transcription start site of a predicted protein-coding gene. Moreover, a subset of the resolved gaps, which have an 80.95% median GC content, localize to transcription start sites and recombination hotspots more often than expected by chance, suggesting the stable canine recombinational landscape has shaped genome architecture. Alignment of the Great Dane and CanFam3.1 assemblies identified 16,834 deletions and 15,621 insertions, as well as 2,665 deletions and 3,493 insertions located on secondary contigs. These structural variants are dominated by retrotransposon insertion/deletion polymorphisms and include 16,221 dimorphic canine short interspersed elements (SINECs) and 1,121 dimorphic long interspersed element-1 sequences (LINE-1_Cfs). Analysis of sequences flanking the 3′ end of LINE-1_Cfs (i.e., LINE-1_Cf 3′-transductions) suggests multiple retrotransposition-competent LINE-1_Cfs segregate among dog populations. Consistent with this conclusion, we demonstrate that a canine LINE-1_Cf element with intact open reading frames can retrotranspose its own RNA and that of a SINEC_Cf consensus sequence in cultured human cells, implicating ongoing retrotransposon activity as a driver of canine genetic variation.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Parul Johri ◽  
Georgi K. Marinov ◽  
Thomas G. Doak ◽  
Michael Lynch

ABSTRACTThe evolution of mitochondrial genomes and their population-genetic environment among unicellular eukaryotes are understudied. Ciliate mitochondrial genomes exhibit a unique combination of characteristics, including a linear organization and the presence of multiple genes with no known function or detectable homologs in other eukaryotes. Here we study the variation of ciliate mitochondrial genomes both within and across thirteen highly diverged Paramecium species, including multiple species from the P. aurelia species complex, with four outgroup species: P. caudatum, P. multimicronucleatum, and two strains that may represent novel related species. We observe extraordinary conservation of gene order and protein-coding content in Paramecium mitochondria across species. In contrast, significant differences are observed in tRNA content and copy number, which is highly conserved in species belonging to the P. aurelia complex but variable among and even within the other Paramecium species. There is an increase in GC content from ~20% to ~40% on the branch leading to the P. aurelia complex. Patterns of polymorphism in population-genomic data and mutation-accumulation experiments suggest that the increase in GC content is primarily due to changes in the mutation spectra in the P. aurelia species. Finally, we find no evidence of recombination in Paramecium mitochondria and find that the mitochondrial genome appears to experience either similar or stronger efficacy of purifying selection than the nucleus.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen. E. Robertson ◽  
Philipp. H. Schiffer ◽  
Maximilian. J. Telford

AbstractThe Dicyemida and Orthonectida are two groups of tiny, simple, vermiform parasites that have historically been united in a group named the Mesozoa. Both Dicyemida and Orthonectida have just two cell layers and appear to lack any defined tissues. They were initially thought to be evolutionary intermediates between protozoans and metazoans but more recent analyses indicate that they are protostomian metazoans that have undergone secondary simplification from a complex ancestor. Here we describe the first almost complete mitochondrial genome sequence from an orthonectid, Intoshia linei, and describe nine and eight mitochondrial protein-coding genes from Dicyema sp. and Dicyema japonicum, respectively. The 14,247 base pair long I. linei sequence has typical metazoan gene content, but is exceptionally AT-rich, and has a divergent gene order compared to other metazoans. The data we present from the Dicyemida provide very limited support for the suggestion that dicyemid mitochondrial genes are found on discrete mini-circles, as opposed to the large circular mitochondrial genomes that are typical across the Metazoa. The cox1 gene from dicyemid species has a series of conserved in-frame deletions that is unique to this lineage. Using cox1 genes from across the genus Dicyema, we report the first internal phylogeny of this group.Key FindingsWe report the first almost-complete mitochondrial genome from an orthonectid parasite, Intoshia linei, including 12 protein-coding genes; 20 tRNAs and putative sequences for large and small subunit rRNAs. We find that the I. linei mitochondrial genome is exceptionally AT-rich and has a novel gene order compared to other published metazoan mitochondrial genomes. These findings are indicative of the rapid rate of evolution that has occurred in the I. linei mitochondrial genome.We also report nine and eight protein-coding genes, respectively, from the dicyemid species Dicyema sp. and Dicyema japonicum, and use the cox1 genes from both species for phylogenetic inference of the internal phylogeny of the dicyemids.We find that the cox1 gene from dicyemids has a series of four conserved in-frame deletions which appear to be unique to this group.


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