Abstract
The complete mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) of Melanitis leda (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Satyrinae) is a circular molecule of 15,122 bp in length, containing 37 typical animal mitochondrial genes and 1 control region, known in insects as the AT-rich region. Its gene content and order are identical to all other available butterfly mitogenomes. All protein-coding genes (PCGs) start with a typical ATN initiation codon, except for COI, which is initiated by the CGA codon as observed in other butterfly species. A total of 97 bp of intergenic spacers are interspersed in 11 regions, ranging in size from 1 to 45 bp. The 314-bp-long AT-rich region is the smallest of all the butterfly corresponding regions available and contains some conserved structures similar to those found in other butterfly mitogenomes, including the motif ATAGA followed by a 19-bp poly-T stretch and a microsatellite-like (AT)6 element preceded by the ATTTA motif.
Declaration of interest : This work was supported by the National Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41172004), the CAS/SAFEA International Partnership Program for Creative Research Teams, Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. KZCX22YW2JC104) the Provincial Key Projects of Natural Science Foundation in the Colleges of Anhui province (Grant No. KJ2010A142), and the Opening Funds from the State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. 104143). The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.