Abstract
Members of the Nanorana genus (family Dicroglossidae) are often referred to as excellent model species with which to study amphibian adaptations to extreme environments and also as excellent keystone taxa for providing insights into the evolution of the Dicroglossidae. However, a complete mitochondrial genome is currently only available for Nanorana pleskei. Thus, we analyzed the complete mitochondrial genomes of Nanorana parkeri and Nanorana ventripunctata to investigate their evolutionary relationships within Nanorana and their phylogenetic position in the family Dicroglossidae. Our results showed that the genomes of N. parkeri (17,837 bp) and N. ventripunctata (18,373 bp) encode 13 protein‐coding genes (PCGs), two ribosomal RNA genes, 23 transfer RNA (tRNA) genes, and a noncoding control region. Overall sequences and genome structure of the two species showed high degree of similarity with N. pleskei, although the motif structures and repeat sequences of the putative control region showed clear differences among these three Nanorana species. In addition, a tandem repeat of the tRNA‐Met gene was found located between the tRNA‐Gln and ND2 genes. On both the 5′ and 3′‐sides, the control region possessed distinct repeat regions; however, the CSB‐2 motif was not found in N. pleskei. Based on the nucleotide sequences of 13 PCGs, our phylogenetic analyses, using Bayesian inference and maximum‐likelihood methods, illustrate the taxonomic status of Nanorana with robust support showing that N. ventripunctata and N. pleskei are more closely related than they are to N. parkeri. In conclusion, our analyses provide a more robust and reliable perspective on the evolutionary history of Dicroglossidae than earlier analyses, which used only a single species (N. pleskei).
Highlights
The Nanorana (Amphibia: Anura: Dicroglossidae) are a genus of dicroglossid frogs found over much of Asia including Pakistan, India, Nepal, China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam (Frost, 2018)
Overall we found that there were no differences in the gene arrangement of mitochondrial genomes among these Nanorana and Quasipaa species (Chen, Zhai, Zhu, & Chen, 2015; Simon et al, 1994; Zhou et al, 2009), but there were some differences between these two frog species and the typical neobatrachian type (e.g., Rana nigromaculata) in the position of transfer RNA (tRNA)-Met, with formation of a tandem duplication of tRNA-Met gene between tRNA-Gln and ND2
The gene components were very loosely juxtaposed with 134/42 (N. parkeri) and 63/39 (N. ventripunctata) of gap/overlapping nucleotides, compared to that of N. pleskei (71/49; Table 1) (Simon et al, 1994)
Summary
The Nanorana (Amphibia: Anura: Dicroglossidae) are a genus of dicroglossid frogs found over much of Asia including Pakistan, India, Nepal, China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam (Frost, 2018). Complete mitochondrial genomes have been used to elucidate many evolutionary questions regarding amphibians (Liu, Wang, & Bing, 2005; Yuan, Xia, Zheng, & Zeng, 2016; Zhang, Nie, Wang, & Hu, 2009), as well as to investigate the evolutionary relationships of endangered species, such as Odorrana ishikawae, Mantella madagascariensis, Andrias davidianus, and Paa spinosa (Kurabayashi et al, 2006, 2010; Zhang, Chen, Liu, Zhou, & Qu, 2003; Zhou, Zhang, Zheng, Yu, & Yang, 2009) Mitochondrial genes such as the COX I, Cytochrome b (Cytb), D-loop, tRNA, and NADH have been used for previous phylogenetic and phylogeographic studies on the genetic divergence of Nanorana (Che et al, 2010; Liu et al, 2015; Wang et al, 2013; Zhang et al, 2010; Zhou et al, 2014). The complete mitochondrial genomes of two Nanorana species (N. ventripunctata and N. parkeri) were analyzed to find novel data with which to investigate the placement of the three Nanorana species in the phylogenetic tree of Dicroglossidae and to provide molecular data for further study on the taxonomic status and adaptive evolutionary mechanisms of these high-altitude species
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