Complete mitochondrial genome of Japalura flaviceps: Deep insights into the phylogeny and gene rearrangements of Agamidae species

Abstract

Japalura flaviceps is a subarboreal species, which is endemically distributed in China. Here, we determined the complete mitogenome of J. flaviceps. This mitogenome was a typical circular molecule of 17,140 bp in size, containing 13 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer-RNA-coding genes, two ribosomal-RNA-coding genes, and one control region. Our phylogenetic result using 15 genes divided all Agamidae lizards into six subfamilies and showed (((((Agaminae, Draconinae), Amphibolurinae), Hydrosaurinae), Uromastycinae), Leiolepinae), which was different from the previous studies. J. flaviceps had a closer relationship to Pseudocalotes species than Acanthosaura species, and they formed a well-supported lineage of Draconinae subfamily. There were nine mitochondrial gene rearrangement types among the 27 Agamidae species, and six of them were found in the Agaminae group. The trnP gene of J. flaviceps mitogenome was encoded on the heavy strand instead of its typical light strand position, providing an example of gene inversion in vertebrate mitogenomes. J. flaviceps shared the same gene arrangement type (inverted trnP gene) with other Draconinae species, strongly implying a single occurrence of the trnP inversion in the ancestral draconine lineage. Our study helps to understand mitogenome evolution and phylogenetic relationship of Agamidae species.