Complete mitochondrial genome of the Critically Endangered Smalltooth Sawfish Pristis pectinata (Rajiformes: Pristidae)

Abstract

In this study we describe the first complete mitochondrial sequence of the Critically Endangered Smalltooth Sawfish Pristis pectinata. It is 16,802 bp in length and contains all 37 genes found in typical vertebrate mitogenomes. The nucleotide composition of the coding strand is 31.1% A, 26.0% C, 13.1% G and 28.9% T. There are 29 bp overlaps and 38 short intergenic spaces dispersed in the mitogenome. Two start codons (ATG and GTG) and two stop codons (TAG and TAA/T) were found in the protein-coding genes. The length of the 22 tRNA genes range from 67 bp (tRNA^Ser2) to 75 bp (tRNA^Leu1). The control region is 1102 bp in length with high A + T (62.0%) and poor G (13.5%) content.

• Mitochondrial genome
• Pristis pectinata
• threatened species

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Kadu Pinheiro for use of the P. pectinata photograph.

Declaration of interest

This study was supported by the Marine Biodiversity Hub, a collaborative partnership supported through funding from the Australian Government’s National Environmental Research Program (NERP) and by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) under solicitation #WC133F-07-RP-0152. Researcher PF was partly supported by the North Australia Marine Research Alliance (NAMRA). Researcher PMK was partly supported by the NERP Northern Australia Hub. The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.