The complete mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) of Linnaeus Gonepteryx rhamni (Lepidoptera: Pieridae: Coliadinae) is a circular molecule of 15,023 bp in length, containing 37 typical coding genes and one non-coding AT-rich region. Its gene order and content are identical to the common type found in most insect mitogenomes. All protein coding genes (PCGs) start with a typical ATN initiation codon, except for the cox1, which use CGA as its start codon. Nine genes use standard complete termination codon (TAA), whereas the cox1, cox2, nad4 and nad5 genes end with single T. Except for trnS1(AGN), all tRNA genes display typical secondary cloverleaf structures as those of other insects. Additionally, the 371 bp long AT-rich region contains a few structures common to the other lepidopterons, such as the motif ATAGA followed by a 17 bp poly-T stretch, a microsatellite-like (AT)10 element preceded by the ATTTA motif, and a 10 bp poly-A presented immediately upstream of trnM gene.

ABSTRACT. In this study, the complete mitochondrial genomes of Curetis bulis and Lycaena phlaeas were determined and analyzed. The circular genomes are 15,162 bp long for C. bulis and 15,280 bp long for L. phlaeas, with a total A+T content of 82.6 and 83.1%, respectively. Both mitogenomes contain 37 genes, and their gene orders are similar to those of other lepidopterans. All protein-coding genes (PCGs) are initiated by ATN codons, except for cox1, which is started with the CGA codon; all PCGs terminate in the typical stop codon TAA, except for cox1, cox2, and nad4, which end with a single T. The codons TTA (Leu), ATT (Ile), TTT (Phe), ATA (Met), and AAT (Asn) appear the most frequently. Both of the mitogenome A+T-rich regions harbor the motif ATAGA, followed by a 19-bp Mitochondrial genomes of Curetis bulis and Lycaena phlaeas poly(T) stretch, with C. bulis containing a microsatellite-like (AT) 5 element next to the ATTTA motif, and L. phlaeas containing a microsatellite-like (TA) 6 (AT) element next to the ATTTA motif. The phylogenetic trees of the 17 representative butterfly species, including the two species of this study, were reconstructed with the maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference methods, based on the 13 PCG nucleotide sequence data. The results of the phylogenetic analyses strongly supported the relationships of ((((Lycaenidae + Pieridae) + Nymphalidae) + Hesperiidae) + Papilionidae), which was markedly different from the traditional morphological view of the Lycaenidae and Nymphalidae considered to be sisters of each other.

The complete mitogenome of Cupido argiades (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) was determined in this study. The genome is 15,330 bp long, presenting a typical gene organization and order for completely sequenced lepidopoteran mitogenomes. All protein-coding genes (PCGs) are initiated by ATN codons, except for cox1, which uses CGA as its start codon. Some PCGs harbor TAG (nad3) or incomplete termination codon T (cox1, cox2, nad5), while others use standard canonical TAA as their termination codons. Furthermore, the largest noncoding A+T-rich region with the length of 450 bp contains two microsatellite-like repeats of (TA)9 and a conserved motif ATAGA followed by a 19-bp poly-T stretch.

The complete mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) of Linnaeus Eurema hecabe (Lepidoptera: Pieridae: Coliadinae) is determined to be 15,160 bp in length, including 37 typical mitochondrial genes and an AT-rich region. Its gene order and orientation are identical to those of other butterfly species. All PCGs are initiated by typical ATN codons, except for CO1 gene which is started by CAG codon. Nine genes use complete termination codon (TAA), whereas the CO1, CO2, ND4 and ND5 genes end with single T. The two rRNA genes (rrnL and rrnS) are 1322 and 832 bp respectively; except for trnS1(AGN), all tRNA genes display typical secondary cloverleaf structures as those of other insects. The 315 bp long AT-rich region contains several features common to the other lepidopterans, such as the ATAGA motif followed by a 19 bp poly-T stretch, two microsatellite-like (TAA)5 and (AT)6 elements, a 9 bp poly-A stretch immediately upstream of trnM gene.