Abstract
The mitochondrial genome of the Chinese bitterling Rhodeus sinesis is a circular molecule of 16,677 bp in length, containing 13 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer RNA genes, two ribosomal RNA genes and two main non-coding regions (the control region and the origin of the light strand replication). The gene composition and order of which were similar to most other vertebrates. All protein-coding genes are initiated with ATG except for COX 1, which begin with GTG instead. However, the termination codons of 13 protein-coding genes are varied with TAA, TA, T or TAG. The molecular data we presented here could provide useful information for the studies on species identification, evolutionary relationships and population genetics of the Acheilognathinae.
Declaration of interest
This work was financially supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 2013SC05 and No. 2012ZYTS027) and Project of Wetland Restoration and Protection of Liangzi Lake. The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.