The complete mitogenomes of the two grysbok species: Raphicerus melanotis Thunberg 1811 (Cape grysbok) and Raphicerus sharpei Thomas 1897 (Sharpe’s grysbok)

Abstract

In this study, we report the novel, complete mitochondrial genomes of two dwarf African antelope species: Raphicerus melanotis (Cape grysbok) and R. sharpei (Sharpe’s grysbok). The circular mitogenomes were 16,384 and 16,392 base pairs in length, respectively, and each contained the expected 37 genes typically found in mammalian mitogenomes. The maximum-likelihood phylogenetic analysis placed R. sharpei as the sister lineage to R. campestris, known as steenbok, which is the only other member of the Raphicerus genus, with 83% bootstrap support, to the exclusion of R. melanotis (100% bootstrap support). This corroborated previous findings based on the cytochrome b gene only. The number of base differences per site between the coding regions of the mitogenomes of R. sharpei and R. campestris was 0.0519, while it was 0.0701 between R. sharpei and R. melanotis and 0.0709 between R. melanotis and R. campestris. The novel grysbok mitogenomes will be valuable resources in future phylogenetic analyses, and phylogeographic and conservation genetics studies.

Keywords:

• Mitochondrial genome
• Bovidae
• phylogenetics
• South Africa
• Africa

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Corne Claassen of CapeNature for providing the R. melanotis sample and Nico van Rooyen Taxidermy for providing the R. sharpei sample, as well as Kim Labuschagne of SANBI NZG and Jofred Opperman of Iziko Museums of South Africa for accepting the donated samples into the respective collections. The authors also thank Anri van Wyk for extracting the DNA from the R. melanotis sample.

Ethical approval

Ethical clearance was obtained from the European Research Executive Agency (call reference: H2020-MSCA-IF-2020, proposal number: 101026951).

CapeNature seized a Raphicerus melanotis sub-adult male carcass in an illegal snaring case on 24 June 2022 on the R43 road Worcester to Villiersdorp near Klipkrans Game Farm, Western Cape Province, South Africa. The case was finalized and the carcass was forfeited to the State (CapeNature), after which heart tissue was sampled and donated to DdJ for research purposes. DdJ has the donation letter. Raphicerus sharpei is listed as a Threatened or Protected Species (ToPS) in South Africa under the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act, 2004 (Act 10 of 2004): Amendment of Critically Endangered, Endangered, Vulnerable and Protected Species List (Government Gazette, No. 30568, 14 December 2007). Consequently, the appropriate ToPS permit was obtained to have the sample for research purposes from the Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, as Nico van Rooyen Taxidermy (where the sample was obtained) is located in Gauteng. The ToPS permit number is 0002558 and the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform, and Rural Development Section 20 permit number is 12/11/1/1/8/MG (2102). Neither R. melanotis nor R. sharpei are listed under CITES.

Authors’ contributions

DdJ and EDL were involved in conception and design. DdJ was involved in sample collection, performed the analyses and interpretation of the results, and drafted the manuscript. EDL revised the manuscript critically for intellectual content. Both authors were involved in the final approval of the version to be published. Both authors agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability statement

The genome sequence data that support the findings of this study are openly available in GenBank of NCBI at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ under the accession no. OR115507-OR115508. The associated BioProject, SRA, and BioSample numbers are PRJNA982611, SRR24893559-SRR24893560, and SAMN35711614-SAMN35711615, respectively.

Additional information

Funding

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 101026951.