Complete mitochondrial genome sequence of Heliocidaris crassispina (Camarodonta, Echinometridae)

Abstract

The whole mitochondrial genome sequence of sea urchin Heliocidaris crassispina of the family Echinometridae is determined for the first time in this study. The circular mitogenome (15,702 bp) consists of typical Camarodonta gene order and its components including 2 rRNA, 22 tRNA, 13 protein-coding genes and a control region. Phylogenetic analysis based on the 13 concatenated protein-coding gene sequences shows that H. crassispina is closer to the species of Strongylocentrotidae than Parechinidae, but the separation between H. crassispina and the Strongylocentrotid species occurred early in their evolution. The complete mitochondrial genome presented in this study is useful for inferring the phylogenetic relationship among the families of Echinidea sea urchins.

• Echinometridae
• Heliocidaris crassispina
• mitochondrial genome
• sea urchin

Declaration of interest

This work was supported by the grants of Korea Institute of Ocean Science & Technology (PE99311). The authors declare that they do not have any conflict of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.