The complete mitochondrial genome of Eremias yarkandensis (Reptilia, Squamata, Lacertidae) from Kyrgyzstan

Abstract

The Yarkand racerunner, Eremias yarkandensis Blandford, 1875, is only distributed in China and Kyrgyzstan. Its complete mitogenome was determined by next-generation sequencing for the first time. The mitogenome was 18,743 bp in length, including 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), two ribosomal RNA genes, 22 transfer RNA genes, and 1 control region. Its gene arrangement was similar to the typical mtDNA of vertebrates. The 13 concatenated PCGs were used to perform Bayesian phylogenetic analyses together with several congeners as well as two representative species of Lacerta with mitogenome data in GenBank. The resulting phylogenetic tree recovered the monophyly of both Eremias and its viviparous group, with E. yarkandensis being more closely related to E. przewalskii than to E. dzungarica. The mitogenome of E. yarkandensis will provide fundamental data for the exploration of the mitogenome evolution in racerunners.

Keywords:

• Kyrgyzstan
• mitochondrial genome
• next-generation sequencing
• phylogenetic tree
• Eremias
• viviparity

Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. Anar Alymkulova (the Institute of Biology and Soil, National Academy of Science of the Kyrgyz Republic) and Dr. Roman A. Nazarov (Zoological Museum, Department of Herpetology, Moscow State University) for assistance in collecting the sample during the fieldwork.

Author contributions

Conceptualization, X.G. and B.Z.; Data curation, M.C., J.L., X.G.; Analysis and interpretation of the data, S.W. and J.L.; Funding acquisition, J.L. and X.G.; Writing – original draft, S.W.,. J.L., X.G.; Writing – review & editing, M.C., B.Z., X.G. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript. All authors agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in NCBI at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/OK585048, reference number OK585048 . The associated BioProject, SRA, and Bio-Sample numbers are PRJNA773190, SRR16508134, and SAMN22445465, respectively.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [32000288 and 32070433], the Program for Young Talents of Science and Technology in Universities of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region [NJYT-19-A13].