Abstract
The complete mitochondrial genome was sequenced in two individuals of the Kamchatka grayling Thymallus mertensii. The genome sequences are 16 662 bp in size, and the gene arrangement, composition, and size are very similar to the salmonid fish genomes published previously. The low level of sequence divergence (0.92%) detected between the genome of T. mertensii and the GenBank complete mitochondrial genomes of the Arctic grayling T. arcticus (FJ872559) may likely be due to recent divergence of the species and/or historical hybridization and interspecific replacement of mtDNA.
Acknowledgements
The authors thank Elena Balakireva for encouragement and help.
Declaration of interest
The authors report no conflict of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper. The work on mitochondrial genome sequencing was supported by Bren Professor Funds at the University of California Irvine to Francisco J Ayala. The analysis of the data was supported by the Russian Science Foundation (RSF; Grant No. 14-50-00034) to Evgeniy S. Balakirev.