Mitochondrial genome of the Sichuan field mouse (Apodemus latronum)

Abstract

Wood mice of the genus Apodemus are the most common small rodents in fields and broad-leaf forests in the temperate zone. In this study, we determined the complete mitochondrial genome of Apodemus latronum. It was endemic species to China, which mainly inhabited at the high land of the eastern Tibetan Plateau. The complete mitochondrial genome sequences of A. latronum was estimated to be 16,288 bases. Its organization and order were similar to that of typical vertebrate and other rodents' mitochondrial genomes, which consisting of 13 protein-coding genes, 2 rRNA genes, 22 tRNA genes, and 1 control region. Most protein-coding genes used ATG as the initiation codon. However, ND1, ND2 and ND5 began with ATA, whereas ND3 initiated with ATT. The termination codon also showed some degree of variation, and three types of stop codons were observed. The mitogenome sequence of A. latronum could provide helpful data to study the phylogeny of Apodemus.

• Apodemus latronum
• complete mitochondrial genome
• molecular marker

Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge Mr. Rui Liao at Sichuan Academy of Forestry for collecting samples.

Declaration of interest

This research was funded by National Science and Technology Support Project of china (2012BAC01B06). This study had no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the article.