Unique repeat and plasmid sequences in the mitochondrial genome of Gracilaria chilensis (Gracilariales, Rhodophyta)

Abstract:

We described the complete mitochondrial genome of Gracilaria chilensis (Gracilariales), an economically important agarophyte alga. The genome was a 26,898 bp circular DNA with 27.6% guanine-cytosine (GC) content, and it encoded 25 protein-coding genes, two ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs), 26 transfer RNAs (tRNAs), and an intron (499 bp) in trnI. The gene composition was similar to that of the published mitogenome of G. salicornia; however, one inverted and several direct repeat sequences occurred between secY and orf148 genes, resulting in duplicated trnR and trnS tRNA sequences. The mitochondrial genome also contained three integrated partial plasmid sequences, which were reported for G. robusta (Gro4059).

Key Words::

• Complete mitochondrial genome
• Florideophyceae
• Gracilaria chilensis
• Gracilariales
• Repeat sequences
• Rhodophyta

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We thank Dr. Deresa Lee (Life Technologies) for technical support. This study was supported by Global Ph.D. Fellowship (GPF) Program from the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (2013–034853) to JL, NRF (2013-0699 and MEST: 2014R1A2A2A01003588) to SMB and HSY, Korean RDA Next-generation BioGreen21 (PJ009525), the Polar Academic Program of the Korea Polar Research Institute (KOPRI), and Marine Biotechnology Program (PJT200620) funded by Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, Korea to HSY.