›› 2010, Vol. 53 ›› Issue (11): 1295-1304.

• RESEARCH PAPERS • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Sequencing and analysis of the complete mitochondrial genome of Pieris rapae Linnaeus (Lepidoptera: Pieridae)

MAO Zeng-Hui, HAO Jia-Sheng, ZHU Guo-Ping, Hu Jing, SI Man-Man, ZHU Chao-Dong   

  • Online:2010-12-29 Published:2010-11-20

Abstract:

Up to now, the higher level taxonomic and phylogenetic studies about the butterflies are still limited and remain many controversial issues. In this study, the complete mitochondrial genome of Pieris rapae Linnaeus was sequenced by using long-PCR and conserved primer walking techniques, aiming at supporting more mitogenomic data to further clarify these problems. The results of genome characterization analysis showed that the mitogenome is 15 157 bp in size, containing 13 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer RNA genes, 2 ribosomal RNA, and an A + T-rich region, with the length of 11 196 bp, 1 474 bp, 2 093 bp and 393 bp, respectively; all the 37 genes are arranged in the same orientations as those of other butterflies determined; there are 10 overlapping sequences totalling 59 bp (1-35 bp for each sequence) and 13 intergenic spacer sequences totalling 120 bp (1-46 bp for each sequence), scattered throughout the genome, respectively, and the largest (46 bp) spacer region is located between the tRNAIle and tRNAGln genes. The neighbor-joining (NJ) and the maximum parsimony (MP) phylogenetic trees of the eleven representative butterfly species were reconstructed based on the complete 13 protein coding gene sequence data, and the results showed that Papilionidae (including papilionids and parnassiids) is a monophyletic group, and Pieridae is closely related with Lycaenidae and Nymphalidae (including nymphalids and acraeids in this study).

Key words: Lepidoptera, Pieridae, Pieris rapae, mitochondrial genome, RNA secondary structure, tandemly repeated sequences