Phylogenetic study of Ameiurus melas based on complete mitochondrial DNA sequence

Abstract

In our research, 16 sets of primers were used to amplify contiguous, overlapping segments of the complete mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of Ameiurus melas. The total length of the mitochondrial genome is 16 512 bp and deposited in the GenBank with accession no. KT804702. The gene arrangement and transcriptional direction were similar to other bony fishes which contained 37 genes (13 protein-coding genes, 2 ribosomal RNA, and 22 transfer RNAs) and a major non-coding control region. The G contents were lowest (17.36%) and the nucleotide skewness for the coding strands of A. melas (GC-skew = −0.24) is biased toward G and the negative GC-skew ranges from −0.44 (ND6) to −0.13 (CO1). The phylogenetic studies indicate that A. melas and the Ictalurus punctatus are cluster together, they are sister group. However, the phylogenetic relationship of other Cyprininae has some differences, such as Pangasianodon gigas and Silurus asotus, which need further research.

Keywords:

• Ameiurus melas
• GC-skew
• mitochondrial DNA
• phylogenetic analysis

Declaration of interest

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant no. 31402281), Special research project of the protection of fish in Angu hydropower station from Dadu River in Sichuan (Grant no. AG2012/S-46-D), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (Grant no. BK20151104), the Changsha Science & Technology Project (Grant no. K1309013-21) and the Special Fund of Fundamental Scientific Research Business Expense for Central Public Research Institutes (Grant no. 2015JBFR02).