The complete mitochondrial genome of the scuttle fly, Megaselia scalaris (Diptera: Phoridae)

Abstract

More than 1400 scuttle flies species in worldwide comprise the Megaselia genus, the largest genus in the family Phoridae. The complete mitochondrial genome of Megaselia scalaris, a medically important entomology was sequenced for the first time. The 15,599 bp circular genome contains the 37 genes found in a typical Metazoan genome: 13 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer RNA genes and 2 ribosomal RNA genes. The mitochondrial genome also contains one non-coding A + T-rich region. The arrangement of the genes was identical with other insect. Each of the base composition on heavy strand was as follows A: 38.87%, G: 13.74%, C: 9.46%, T: 37.93% and the A + T content 76.80%. The mitochondrial genome of M. scalaris presented may be valuable for determining phylogenetic relationships within the order Diptera and especially for the family Phoridae. These sequences could also be used to select reliable molecular markers for species identification in forensic entomology.

• A + T-rich region
• Forensic myiasis
• species identification
• tRNA

Acknowledgements

We express our sincere thanks to Professor Jifeng Cai (Department of Forensic Science, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Central South University, Changsha, China), who kindly provided facilities to work. This research was supported by Hunan Provincial Innovation Foundation for Postgraduate (Grant Nos. CX2010B037 and CX2010B038).

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.