Detection of two different mitochondrial genomes in a gall wasp species, Andricus mairei (Hymenoptera: Cynipoidea: Cynipidae)

Mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) have been used widely in comparative and evolutionary genomics, molecular evolution, phylogenetics, and population genetics, but very limited information is available for the family Cynipidae. In this report, we described the mitogenome of Andricus mairei. The mitogenome of A. mairei was 16,514 bp in length and contained a typical set of 37 genes. Two control regions (CRs) were detected, one being a partial reverse repeat of the other. In a comparison with the putative ancestral mitogenome, gene rearrangements were found in transfer RNA (tRNA) genes, protein-coding genes and ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes. Consistent with other Cynipidae species, the gene rearrangement of A. mairei had four obvious charac-teristics: trnE and trnF had inverted and swapped positions; rrnL and rrnS genes had moved into the cob-nad1 junction; a novel tRNA gene clustertrnL1-trnI-trnL2-trnW-trnM-trnQ had been formed between nad1 and nad2; and trnV had inverted and moved to the nad2-cox1 gene junction. Furthermore, A. mairei had two types of mitochondrial circular DNA molecules. Type II differed from type I in an inverted rearrangement of a large fragment of 3349 nucleotides, including two CRs and two rRNA genes.

Automated summary

In this study, the mitochondrial genome of Andricus mairei was analyzed, revealing gene rearrangements and unique characteristics compared to other Cynipidae species.