The complete mitochondrial genome of the Mayang white goose and its phylogenetic analyses

Abstract

Mayang white goose (MYW) is one of the famous indigenous breeds of Hunan province in China. It is the first time that the complete mitochondrial genome sequence of the MYW was reported. The total length of the mtDNA is 16,738 bp. It contains the typical structure, including 22 transfer RNA genes, two ribosomal RNA genes, 13 protein-coding genes, and one non-coding control region (D-loop region). The overall composition of the mtDNA was estimated to be 30.12% for A, 22.58% for T, 32.11% for C, and 15.18% for G. Phylogenetic analyses using N-J computational algorithms showed that the analyzed 23 Anseriform species are divided into four major clades: Anatinae, Anserinae, Dendrocygninae, and Anseranatidae. In addition, our work confirmed that MYW is different from other goose species in Hunan province in that it has a close genetic relationship with fellow tribal members Anser fabalis and Anser anser. This work will provide an important data set for the study in the genetic mechanism of goose in Hunan province.

Keywords:

• Mayang white goose
• mitochondrial
• phylogenetic analyses

Mayang white goose (MYW) is one of the famous indigenous breed and importantly protected breed of goose in Hunan province of China, which has been bred in Mayang Miao Autonomous County of Hunan province for hundreds of years. The features of MYW are high early growth rate, good tasting meat, and high egg productivity (Zhang 1991). In this study, we newly determined the complete mitochondrial genome of MYW and the adult individuals of MYW were collected at its originally breeding farm in Mayang Miao Autonomous County (27.52 N and 109.47 E), Hunan province, China on July 2018. And the specimens were stored at −80 °C in our laboratory (Research Department of Animal Nutrition and Poultry, Hunan Institute of Animal and Veterinary Science). Total genomic DNA was extracted from the thigh muscle of a single individual using the EasyPure Kit of Genomic DNA (Transgen Biotech, Beijing, China). Whole mitochondrial genome was amplified with 13 pairs of primers and sequenced by BioSune Biotech (Shanghai, China). DNA sequence was analyzed using DNAStar.Lasergene.v7.1 software (Madison, WI), tRNA Scan-SE1.21 software (Lowe and Eddy 1997), and DOGMA software (Wyman et al. 2004).

The total length of the mtDNA is 16,738 bp. It contains the typical structure, including 22 transfer RNA genes, two ribosomal RNA genes, 13 protein-coding genes, and one non-coding control region (D-loop region) (GenBank accession No. MK102803). The overall composition of the mtDNA was estimated to be 30.12% for A, 22.58% for T, 32.11% for C, and 15.18% for G. Besides the COX1, COX2, and ND5 initiation codon is GTG, the rest of the proteins are ATG. All these genes have 16 spaces and eight overlaps both in the length of 1–10 bp. These genes had five types of termination codons, including TAA, TAG, AGG, AGA, and an incomplete termination codon ‘‘T– –’’. ‘‘T– –’’ is the 5' terminal of the adjacent gene (Anderson et al. 1981). Among 13 protein-coding genes, the longest one was ND5 gene (1818 bp), which was located between the tRNA^Leu and Cytb, and the shortest one was ATPase8 gene (168 bp), which was located between the tRNA^Lys and ATPase6.

Phylogenetic analysis was performed using the complete mitochondrial DNA sequences of 23 Anseriformes. Each of the sequence dataset was aligned by ClustalX (Thompson et al. 1997) and analyzed by neighbor-joining (N-J) in MEGA 4.0 (Tamura et al. 2007), and bootstrap analysis was performed with 100 replications. An N-J tree showed that the analyzed species are divided into four major clades (Figure 1). Anserinae makes up the first lineage, which is sister to the second group, Anatinae; Dendrocygninae forms the third group and is sister to Anserinae and Anatinae. The lineage consisting of these three groups, in turn, is sister to the fourth clade, Anseranatidae. In addition, our work confirmed that other goose species in Hunan province such as Linxian white goose, Wugangtong white goose, Xupu goose, Wugangtong grey goose, and Daozhou grey goose have highly similar genetic relationship which are consistent with those as reported previously (Dai et al. 2016; Lin et al. 2018). Meanwhile, we also found that MYW is different from other goose species in Hunan province in that it has a close genetic relationship with fellow tribal members Anser fabalis and Anser anser.

Figure 1. Phylogenetic analysis based on complete mitochondrial genome sequences. An N-J tree was built based on the phylogenetic analysis of 23 Anseriform species’ complete mitochondrial genomes. The mitochondrial genome sequences of the Anseriform species were obtained from the GenBank databases (Accession numbers have marked on the figure). Abbreviation of species indicates LXW: Linxian white goose; WGTW: Wugangtong white goose; XP: Xupu goose; WGTG: Wugangtong grey goose; DZG: Daozhou grey goose; MYW: Mayang white goose.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by The Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Program (ASTIP-IBFC), Modern Agricultural Technical System Foundation of China (CARS-42), and Youth Fund of Hunan Natural Science Foundation [2017JJ3136].