Abstract
Insect mitochondrial genomes are very important to understand the molecular evolution as well as for phylogenetic and phylogeographic studies of the insects. The Miridae are the largest family of Heteroptera encompassing more than 11,000 described species and of great economic importance. For better understanding the diversity and the evolution of plant bugs, we sequence five new mitochondrial genomes and present the first comparative analysis of nine mitochondrial genomes of mirids available to date. Our result showed that gene content, gene arrangement, base composition and sequences of mitochondrial transcription termination factor were conserved in plant bugs. Intra-genus species shared more conserved genomic characteristics, such as nucleotide and amino acid composition of protein-coding genes, secondary structure and anticodon mutations of tRNAs, and non-coding sequences. Control region possessed several distinct characteristics, including: variable size, abundant tandem repetitions, and intra-genus conservation; and was useful in evolutionary and population genetic studies. The AGG codon reassignments were investigated between serine and lysine in the genera Adelphocoris and other cimicomorphans. Our analysis revealed correlated evolution between reassignments of the AGG codon and specific point mutations at the antidocons of tRNALys and tRNASer(AGN). Phylogenetic analysis indicated that mitochondrial genome sequences were useful in resolving family level relationship of Cimicomorpha. Comparative evolutionary analysis of plant bug mitochondrial genomes allowed the identification of previously neglected coding genes or non-coding regions as potential molecular markers. The finding of the AGG codon reassignments between serine and lysine indicated the parallel evolution of the genetic code in Hemiptera mitochondrial genomes.
Highlights
The Miridae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Cimicomorpha), or plant bugs, are one of the 20 most diverse families of insects and the largest family of true bugs belonging to the suborder Heteroptera, with approximately 11,000 described species in 1,200 genera [1,2]
Five complete mt genomes were from Nesidiocoris tenuis [26], Apolygus lucorum [27], Lygus lineolaris [29], Adelphocoris fasciaticollis [28] and Ad. lineolatus, and four nearly complete mt genomes were from Ad. suturalis, Ad. nigritylus, L. rugulipennis and Trigonotylus caelestialium
Our results showed that gene content, gene arrangement, base composition and sequence of DmTTF binding site were conserved among plant bug mt genomes
Summary
The Miridae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Cimicomorpha), or plant bugs, are one of the 20 most diverse families of insects and the largest family of true bugs belonging to the suborder Heteroptera, with approximately 11,000 described species in 1,200 genera [1,2]. Field trials conducted over 10 years in northern China show that some plant bugs have progressively increased population sizes and acquired pest status in cotton and multiple other crops, in association with a regional increase in Bt cotton adoption [5]. Despite their economic and evolutionary importance, plant bugs are rarely recognized [1]. The use of DNA sequence data in species level studies has been nearly negligible [1,8]
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