The complete mitochondrial genome of the firefly, Abscondita chinensis (Coleoptera: Lampyridae)

Abstract

We report the complete mitochondrial genome of Firefly, Abscondita chinensis. The circular genome of 16,309 bp and has a base composition of A (43.63%), C (11.53%), G (8.50%), T (36.31%). Similar to other Metazoa, our sequence contains 13 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer RNA genes, two ribosomal RNA genes, and a non-coding AT-rich region. We sequenced the mitochondrial genome of fireflies to analyze phylogenetic relationships and deduce the evolution of their flashing signals.

Keywords:

• Abscondita chinensis
• firefly
• lampyridae
• mitochondrial genome

Abscondita, a new genus of fireflies from South-east Asia, including Abscondita anceyi (Olivier), Abscondita cerata (Olivier), Abscondita chinensis (L.), Abscondita perplexa (Walker), Abscondita promelaena (Walker) and Abscondita terminalis (Olivier), was erected in the Luciolinae in 2013 (Ballantyne et al. 2013). In this genus, most species are widely distributed in China and Abs. chinensis is one of them (Fu 2014). Life histories, biology and flashing patterns of populations of Abs. chinensis has been studied (Ballantyne et al. 2013; Fu 2014).

Mitochondrial genome sequences are essential to a comprehensive understanding of the evolution of Lampyridae and other luminescent beetles (Ermakov et al. 2006). Here, we elucidate the mtDNA genome of Abs.chinensis.

Specimens used in this study were collected from Huangpi District, Wuhan City, Hubei province (23 July 2014) and were stored in Natural History Museum, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, Hubei, China (accession no. AC2014082005).

Specific primers were designed based on these conserved regions sequences. The PCR reaction was carried out with LA Taq polymerase for 35 cycles at 94 °C for 30 s, and annealed at 50 °C for 30 s, followed by extension at 72 °C for 1 min per 1 kb. Sequences were assembled using the software DNAstar v7.1 (DNAstar, Madison, WI) and adjusted manually to generate the complete sequence of mitochondrial DNA.

The complete mitochondrial genome sequence of Abs. chinensis (GenBank:MK122952) has 18,594 bp and has a base composition of A (43.63%), C (11.53%), G (8.50%), T (36.31%). Similar to other Metazoa, our sequence contains 13 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer RNA genes, two ribosomal RNA genes, a non-coding AT-rich region, which represents a typical insect mitochondrial genome (Wolstenholme 1992). The open frames of the 13 protein-coding genes were inferred from three other fireflies: Aquatica leii, Luciola substriata (recently identified as Sclerotia flavida by Ballantyne et al. 2016), and Pyrocoelia rufa (Lee et al. 2004; Jiao et al. 2015; Mu et al. 2016). All 13 PCGs initiated with ATN (ATT, ATA, and ATG) codon. Among those genes, six PCGs (COII, COIII, ND4, ND4L, ATP6, CTYB) initiated from ATG, and three PCGs (COI, ND3, ND1) initiated from ATT, and four PCGs (ND5, ND6, ND2, ATP8) initiated from ATA. In addition, an incomplete terminal codon namely single T was found in five PGGS (COII, COIII, ND5, ND4, COI), In case of other eight PGGS, TAA (ND2, ND6, ND3, ATP8, ATP6, ND4L) or TAG (CTYB, ND1) was used.

The phylogenetic tree among the 12 species based on mitochondrial genome sequences was aligned in MEGA 5 (Phoenix, AZ) (with 1000 bootstrap replicates) to construct a Neighbour-Joining tree (Figure 1). The result shows Abs. chinensis chinensis is most closely related to Abs. anceyi, which also belongs to the genus of Abscondita in the Lampyridae.

Figure 1. Molecular phylogeny of Abs. chinensis and 11 other firefly species based on the complete mitochondrial genome. The complete mitochondrial genome was downloaded from GenBank and the phylogenic tree was constructed by neighbor-joining method with 1000 bootstrap replicates. MtDNA accession numbers used for tree construction are as follows: Pteroptyx maipo (MF686051) Aquatica ficta (KX758085), Pyrocoelia rufa (AF452048), Aquatica leii (KF667531), Aquatica wuhana (KX758086), Luciola cruciata (AB849456), Asymmetricata circumdata (KX229747), Aquatica lateralis (LC306678), Abscondita anceyi (MH020192), Luciola curtithorax (MG770613) and Luciola substriata (recently identified as Sclerotia flavida by Ballantyne et al. 2016)(KP313820).

In conclusion, the complete mitochondrial genome sequence of Abs. anceyi provides an important molecular framework for further phylogenetic analyses of fireflies.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflict of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [# 31672349 and #31872281].