The complete mitochondrial genome of the Hoffmann's two-toed sloth (Choloepus hoffmanni)

Abstract

The Hoffmann's two-toed sloth (Choloepus hoffmanni), a member of Folivora suborder, is found in the rainforest canopy of South America. Both the Hoffmann's two-toed sloth and human belong to Eutheria subclass. In this study, the complete mitochondrial genome of C. hoffmanni is reported . The whole mitochondrial genome is 16 466 bp in length, including 13 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer RNA genes and 2 ribosomal RNA genes. Comparison between the mitochondrial genome of the C. hoffmanni and that of its congener Choloepus didactylus revealed a high similarity in their gene sequences. We also constructed a phylogenetic tree on the complete mitochondrial genomes of these two species and other 14 closely related species to show their phylogenic relationship. To conclude, we analyzed the complete mitochondrial genome of C. hoffmanni and its phylogenic relationship with other related species, which would facilitate our understanding of the evolution of eutherian mitochondrial genome.

• C. hoffmanni
• Hoffmann's two-toed sloth
• mitogenome
• phylogenic relationship

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Washington University Genome Sequencing Center for generating the raw sequencing data of the Hoffmann's two-toed sloth (Choloepus hoffmanni) used in this study. We also would like to thank the McDonnell Genome Institute as the data source, for the reason that this project of sequencing the Choloepus hoffmanni is a component of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) Large Scale Sequencing Program for Organismal Sequencing.

Declaration of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.