Multiplexed pyrosequencing of nine sea anemone (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Hexacorallia: Actiniaria) mitochondrial genomes

Abstract

Six complete and three partial actiniarian mitochondrial genomes were amplified in two semi-circles using long-range PCR and pyrosequenced in a single run on a 454 GS Junior, doubling the number of complete mitogenomes available within the order. Typical metazoan mtDNA features included circularity, 13 protein-coding genes, 2 ribosomal RNA genes, and length ranging from 17,498 to 19,727 bp. Several typical anthozoan mitochondrial genome features were also observed including the presence of only two transfer RNA genes, elevated A + T richness ranging from 54.9 to 62.4%, large intergenic regions, and group 1 introns interrupting NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5 and cytochrome c oxidase subunit I, the latter of which possesses a homing endonuclease gene. Within the sea anemone Alicia sansibarensis, we report the first mitochondrial gene order rearrangement within the Actiniaria, as well as putative novel non-canonical protein-coding genes. Phylogenetic analyses of all 13 protein-coding and 2 ribosomal genes largely corroborated current hypotheses of sea anemone interrelatedness, with a few lower-level differences.

• Gene rearrangement
• long-range PCR
• mitogenome
• phylogeny

Acknowledgements

The authors owe many thanks to colleagues for providing samples or providing assistance with collection; in particular, they thank V. M. Fraser (South Africa), R. González Muñoz (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico), P. J. López-González (Universidad de Sevilla, Spain), C. McFadden (Harvey Mudd College, CA), E. Pante (Université de La Rochelle, France), B. Picton (National Museums Northern Ireland, Ireland), and R. Waller (University of Maine). The authors thank Aude Andouche (Service des collections du Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle) for the loan of Isactinernus quadrilobatus.

Declaration of interest

Partial support for fieldwork was provided by U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF EF-0531763) to M. Daly (Ohio State University, Columbus, OH), the Lerner Gray Fund for Marine Research (AMNH) and the Constantine S. Niarchos Expedition Award to E. R.; the Gerstner Family Foundation provided partial support to M. R. B. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.