Abstract
In the present study, the complete mitogenome of Theretra japonica was sequenced and compared with other sequenced mitogenomes of Sphingidae species. The mitogenome of T. japonica, containing 37 genes (13 protein-coding genes, 22 tRNA genes, and two rRNA genes) and a region rich in adenine and thymine (AT-rich region), is a circular molecule with 15,399 base pairs (bp) in length. The order and orientation of the genes in the mitogenome are similar to those of other sequenced mitogenomes of Sphingidae species. All 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs) are initiated by ATN codons except for the cytochrome C oxidase subunit 1 gene (cox1) which is initiated by the codon CGA as observed in other lepidopteran insects. Cytochrome C oxidase subunit 2 gene (cox2) has the incomplete termination codon T and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 1 gene (nad1) terminates with TAG while the remainder terminates with TAA. Additionally, the codon distributions of the 13 PCGs revealed that Ile and Leu2 are the most frequently used codon families and codons CGG, CGC, CCG, CAG, and AGG are absent. The 431 bp AT-rich region includes the motif ATAGA followed by a 23 bp poly-T stretch, short tandem repeats (STRs) of TC and TA, two copies of a 28 bp repeat ‘ATTAAATTAATAAATTAA TATATTAATA’ and a poly-A element. Phylogenetic analyses within Sphingidae confirmed that T. japonica belongs to the Macroglossinae and showed that the phylogenetic relationship of T. japonica is closer to Ampelophaga rubiginosa than Daphnis nerii. Phylogenetic analyses within Theretra demonstrate that T. japonica, T. jugurtha, T. suffusa, and T. capensis are clustered into one clade.
Highlights
The Sphingidae (Lepidoptera) moths are commonly known as hawk moths, sphinx moths, or hornworms and include 1,463 species (Nieukerken et al 2011)
N. analis, S. morio, A. convolvuli, and M. sexta belong to the subfamily Sphinginae, while A. rubiginosa and D. nerii belong to the Macroglossinae
Among the 37 genes, 23 genes are encoded by the majority-coding strand (J-strand) and 14 genes are encoded by the minority-coding strand (N-strand)
Summary
The Sphingidae (Lepidoptera) moths are commonly known as hawk moths, sphinx moths, or hornworms and include 1,463 species (Nieukerken et al 2011). Theretra japonica is taxonomically classified into the subfamily Macroglossinae according to its morphology (Zhu and Wang 1997), but its mitogenome has not yet been reported, nor a phylogenetic analysis based on this. In this study polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification, DNA sequencing, and overlapped fragments assembling methods were used to determine the complete mitogenome of T. japonica.
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