Characterization of the complete mitochondrial genome of Collared Finchbill, Spizixos semitorques (Passeriformes: Pycnonotidae)

Abstract

The complete mitochondrial genome of Spizixos semitorques is 17,045 bp long with an A+T content of 55.52%, which composed of 13 typical protein-coding genes, 22 transfer RNA (tRNA) genes, 2 ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes, and 2 extensive heteroplasmic control regions (CR1 and CR2). Genome organization of S. semitorques is similar to that of other birds. All of the PCGs started with ATG, except for cox1, which began with GTG. Six types of termination codons were used, canonical TAA and TAG termination codons are found in seven protein-coding genes, while AGA for nad1 and nad5, AGG for cox1, and the remaining genes (nad2, cox3, nad4) have incomplete termination codons (TA– or T– –). All tRNA genes have a typical clover-leaf structure. Furthermore, a minisatellite of 24 nucleotides (5′-CACAAAAATCAAACAAAAATACAA-3′) with 2.9 tandem repeats at the end of CR2 were detected.

• Minisatellite
• mitochondrial genome
• Pycnonotidae
• Spizixos semitorques

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Binghua Li, Fang Zhang, Weiwei Guo, Jianke Yang, Zhichun Guo for assistance, suggestions and comments.

Declaration of interest

This study was supported by the Key Laboratory of Biotic Environment and Ecology Safety in Anhui Province, the Key Program of Natural Science Foundation of the Anhui Higher Education Institutions (No. KJ2013A127), and the Anhui Provincial Natural Science Foundation (No. 1308085MC38). The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

Notice of Correction:

In the version of this article published online on 8 May 2014, the authors' affiliation address was incorrectly written as ‘Republic of China’. All instances have now been changed to ‘People's Republic of China’ in this version, amended on 15 July 2014.