Complete female mitochondrial genome of Mytilus chilensis

Abstract

The controversy surrounding the origin of antitropical distribution of Mytilus mussels and the taxonomic status of southern hemisphere populations remain unsolved, despite the efforts. One of the limiting factors remains the lack of the complete sequences of the representative mitochondrial genomes which would allow their proper comparison with the relatively well-represented northern hemisphere congeneric mussels. To fill this gap we sequenced the representative maternal (F) genome of a native Chilean mussel. The genome is 16,748bp long and structurally identical to the northern hemisphere M. edulis and M. galloprovincialis F genomes. However, the genetic distance from them (≈5%) is twice as high as the maximum distance between them (<2.5%). Thus, the notion that the name M. chilensis should be used for native Chilean Mytilus mussels, with the same rank as M. galloprovincialis and M. edulis is supported.

Keywords:

• DUI
• mitogenomics
• South American mussels
• East Pacific

Acknowledgments

We thank Dr Karin Gérard for providing the samples and Ms Paulina Ulewska for help with laboratory work.

Disclosure statement

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