The mitochondrial genome of Polylabris halichoeres (Monogenea: Microcotylidae)

Abstract

This study presents the complete mitochondrial (mt) genome of Polylabris halichoeres, which is the largest mt genome sequenced of monogeneans so far and the second complete sequence after Microcotyle sebastis from the Microcotylidae. It is basically similar to that of M. sebastis, with the exception of a high level of gene rearrangement located between trnC and trnL^(UUR), a translocation of trnM and trnH, as well as a highly repetitive region (HRR) in the large non-coding region (NCR). We also find a series of trnI pseudogenes (ΨI) and one unknown short open reading frame (ORF) in the large NCR. Although the ORF cannot be unambiguously regarded as an atp8 gene, we cannot rule out the possibility that it has other functional importance, but it need further study in the future.

Keywords::

• Mitochondrial genome
• Polylabris halichoeres
• monogenean

Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 30871934) and Key Projects in the National Science & Technology Pillar Program (grant no. 2007BAD29B05).

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.