Comparative Mt Genomics of the Tipuloidea (Diptera: Nematocera: Tipulomorpha) and Its Implications for the Phylogeny of the Tipulomorpha.

Xiao Zhang,Xuankun Li,Zehui Kang,Ding Yang,Herman De Jong,Stephen L Cameron,Mengqing Wang,Meng Mao

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0158167

Abstract

A traditionally controversial taxon, the Tipulomorpha has been frequently discussed with respect to both its familial composition and relationships with other Nematocera. The interpretation of internal relationships within the Tipuloidea, which include the Tipulidae sensu stricto, Cylindrotomidae, Pediciidae and Limoniidae, is also problematic. We sequenced the first complete mitochondrial (mt) genome of Symplecta hybrida (Meigen, 1804), which belongs to the subfamily Chioneinae of family Limoniidae, and another five nearly complete mt genomes from the Tipuloidea. We did a comparative analysis of these mt genomics and used them, along with some other representatives of the Nematocera to construct phylogenetic trees. Trees inferred by Bayesian methods strongly support a sister-group relationship between Trichoceridae and Tipuloidea. Tipulomorpha are not supported as the earliest branch of the Diptera. Furthermore, phylogenetic trees indicate that the family Limoniidae is a paraphyletic group.

Highlights

The animal mitochondrial genome typically contains 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 transfer RNA genes, two ribosomal RNA genes and a large non-coding region [1]
Because tRNAIle, tRNAGln and tRNAMet were not sequenced for the 5 species whose incomplete mt genomes were obtained, the phylogenetic analyses only include the remaining 19 transfer RNA (tRNA), 13 PCGs, lrRNA, and a portion of srRNA
The newly sequenced complete mt genome fall within the middle of the size range previously reported for mt genomes from the Nematocera, which ranges from 15,214bp in Ptychoptera (Ptychopteridae) to about 18,600bp in Bittacomorphella (Ptychopteridae) [6]

Summary

Introduction

The animal mitochondrial (mt) genome typically contains 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 transfer RNA (tRNA) genes, two ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes and a large non-coding region ( referred to as the control region, or CR) [1]. By June 2015, there had been 118 complete and nearly complete Diptera mt genome sequences which were available in GenBank, including 45 nematoceran species representing 14 families.

Results

Conclusion