The complete mitochondrial genome of fungus-growing termite, Macrotermes natalensis (Isoptera: Macrotermitinae)

Abstract

In this study, the complete mitochondrial genome of a fungus-growing termite, Macrotermes natalensis, with the total length of 16,325 bp, is reported for the first time. This mtgenome harbors 13 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer RNA genes, 2 ribosomal RNA genes, and 1 control region (D-loop). The total base composition is 44.1% of A, 21.5% of T, 11.5% of G, and 22.9% of C, so the percentage of A and T (65.6%) is much higher than that of G and C. Most of the genes are distributed on H-strand, except for four subunit genes (ND1, ND4, ND4L, ND5) and eight tRNA genes. All protein-coding genes start with an ATN codon, and terminate with the canonical stop codon (TAA/TAG) or a single T (T– –). The complete mitochondrial genome sequence reported here adds a new genetic resource for the genus Macrotermes and might be useful for phylogenetic and systematic analyses within the genus Macrotermes.

• Fungus-growing termite
• Macrotermes natalensis
• mitochondrial genome

Acknowledgements

We would appreciate the anonymous reviewers for providing valuable comments on the manuscript.

Declaration of interest

This work is funded by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2013PY007) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (31171856). The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.