Complete mitochondrial genome of the Blue Eared Pheasant, Crossoptilon auritum (Galliformes: Phasianidae)

Abstract

The circular mitochondrial genome of Crossoptilon auritum is 16,687 bp in length, containing 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 2 ribosomal RNA genes, 22 transfer RNA (tRNA) genes, and a putative control region. All of the genes encoded on the H-strand, except for one PCG (nad6) and eight tRNA genes (tRNA^Gln, tRNA ^Ala, tRNA ^Asn, tRNA^Cys, tRNA^Tyr, tRNA^Ser(UCN), tRNA^Pro, and tRNA^Glu), as found in many other birds’ mitochondrial genomes. All of these PCGs are initiated with ATG, except for cox1 and nad5, which began with GTG, while stopped by four types of stop codons. All tRNA genes have the potential to fold into typical clover-leaf structure. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that the genus Crossoptilon was the sister of the genus Lophura.

• Crossoptilon auritum
• mitochondrial genome
• Phasianidae
• phylogenetics

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Binghua Li, Jianke Yang, and Zhichun Guo for assistance, suggestions, and comments.

Declaration of interest

This study was supported by the Key Laboratory of Biotic Environment and Ecology Safety in Anhui Province, the Key Program of Natural Science Foundation of the Anhui Higher Education Institutions (No. KJ2013A127), and the Anhui Provincial Natural Science Foundation (No. 1308085MC38). The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

Notice of Correction:

In the version of this article published online on 16 April 2014, the authors' affiliation address was incorrectly written as ‘Republic of China’. All instances have now been changed to ‘People's Republic of China’ in this version, amended on 15 July 2014.