A new gene order in the mitochondrial genome of the deep-sea diaphanous hatchet fish Sternoptyx diaphana Hermann, 1781 (Stomiiformes: Sternoptychidae)

Abstract

Species of the Sternoptychidae teleost family display an impressive morphology, including their extreme reduced size. Here, we report the first mitochondrial genome of the diaphanous hatchet fish Sternoptyx diaphana. By using short-read sequencing Illumina HiSeq, we generated two mitochondrial contigs which were later physically assembled by PCR. The mitochondrial genome of S. diaphana was 17,224 bp in length (excluding the control region) and is composed of 13 PCGs and 2 ribosomal RNA genes. Strikingly, we could not identify the tRNA-Phe and two copies of tRNA-Met were differently positioned. Additionally, the mitogenome displays a completely new gene rearrangement among vertebrates. We expect that the study presented here will pave the way for further molecular studies with this underrepresented group of illusive teleost fish.

Keywords:

• Stomiiformes
• Sternoptychidae
• mtDNA
• deep-sea
• Diaphanous hatchet fish

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that supports the findings of this study are available in GenBank of NCBI at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, reference number MT588184 or from the corresponding authors, Elsa Froufe and L. Filipe C. Castro.

Additional information

Funding

This work was financed by the Project The Sea and the Shore, Architecture and Marine Biology: The Impact of Sea Life on the Built Environment (PTDC/ART-DAQ/29537/2017) from FCT/MCTES through national funds (PIDDAC) and co-financing from the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) POCI-01-0145-FEDER-029537, in the aim of the new partnership agreement PT2020 through COMPETE 2020 – Competitiveness and Internationalization Operational Program (POCI), and by FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia UIDB/04423/2020, UIDP/04423/2020 which also supported A.G.S. (SFRH/BD/137935/2018). EU-Spain NAFO Groundfish survey has been co-funded by the European Union through the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) within the National Program of collection, management and use of data in the fisheries sector and support for scientific advice regarding the Common Fisheries Policy and IEO-BIOPESLE project.