Complete male mitochondrial genomes of European Mytilus edulis mussels

Abstract

Doubly uniparental inheritance (DUI) results in the existence of two gender-specific, divergent mtDNA lineages within a single species. Under DUI, the female genome (F) is transmitted from mothers to the whole offspring, and the male genome (M) is transmitted exclusively from fathers to sons. This system was first described in a marine mussels Mytilus edulis inhabiting European coastal waters, over a decade ago. Despite that, the complete sequence of the M genome from the European M. edulis mussels remained unknown. Here we announce it for the first time. The announcement is based on the two haplotypes isolated from heteroplasmic males of European M. edulis sampled at two moderately distant locations: southern North Sea and western Baltic. The two M genomes are quite similar both in length (16,631 and 16,632 bp) and in sequence (98.3%). Furthermore, both newly sequenced genomes are closely related to the genomes described from Baltic M. trossulus.

• DUI
• East Atlantic
• European mussels
• mitogenomics

Declaration of interest

This study was partially funded by project EC ICA1-CT-2002-70022, SPB 127/E-335/SPB/5.PR UE/DIE 63/2005, Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education to R.W., through a Grant No. NN303 418336 to A.B. and by the statutory topic IV.1 in the IO PAS. The authors are solely responsible for writing this manuscript.