Analysis of mitochondrial genomes resolves the phylogenetic position of Chinese freshwater mussels (Bivalvia, Unionidae)

Abstract

The Yangtze River basin is one of the most species-rich regions for freshwater mussels on Earth, but is gravely threatened by anthropogenic activities. However, conservation planning and management of mussel species has been hindered by a number of taxonomic uncertainties. In order to clarify the taxonomic status and phylogenetic position of these species, mitochondrial genomes of four species (Acuticostachinensis, Schistodesmuslampreyanus, Cuneopsisheudei and Cuneopsiscapitatus) were generated and analyzed along with data from 43 other mitogenomes. The complete F-type mitogenomes of A.chinensis, S.lampreyanus, C.heudei, and C.capitatus are 15652 bp, 15855 bp, 15892 bp, and 15844 bp, respectively, and all four F-type mitogenomes have the same pattern of gene arrangement. ML and BI trees based on the mitogenome dataset are completely congruent, and indicate that the included Unionidae belong to three subfamilies with high bootstrap and posterior probabilities, i.e., Unioninae (Aculamprotula, Cuneopsis, Nodularia, and Schistodesmus), Anodontinae (Cristaria, Arconaia, Acuticosta, Lanceolaria, Anemina, and Sinoanodonta), and Gonideinae (Ptychorhynchus, Solenaia, Lamprotula, and Sinohyriopsis). Results also indicate that A.chinensis has affinities with Arconaialanceolata and Lanceolariagrayii and is a member of the subfamily Anodontinae.

The complete mitochondrial genome of freshwater mussel Pronodularia japanensis (Gonideinae, Unionidae, Unionida) from Tochigi Prefecture, Japan, and its phylogenetic analysis

“…Former molecular phylogenetic analyses of the Unionidae based on partial mitochondrial genomes showed inconsistent relationships among studies (Bolotov et al 2017;Lopes-Lima et al 2017;Huang et al 2018;Wu et al 2019). However, the results of our study are consistent with the previous result based on complete mitochondrial genomes of Unionidae (Wang et al 2018).…”

Integrative taxonomy, biogeography and conservation of freshwater mussels (Unionidae) in Russia

“…Reliable fossil records are essential to reconstruct robust fossil-calibrated phylogenies using multi-locus and mitogenomic approaches 77,78,81,95 . Paleontologists described numerous fossil species of freshwater mussels from Russia and adjacent countries [96][97][98][99][100] .…”

Mesozoic mitogenome rearrangements and freshwater mussel (Bivalvia: Unionoidea) macroevolution

“…In fact, of the six recognized Unionida families (Lopes-Lima et al 2014), published mitogenomes are essentially restricted to the Unionoidea (Unionidae+Margaritiferidae) with a distribution predominantly within the Northern Hemisphere. While some studies have questioned the monophyly of the Unionoidea (e.g., Combosch et al 2017;Whelan et al 2011) the most comprehensive recent studies, using either full mitogenomes (Huang et al 2019;Wu et al 2019) or hundreds of nuclear loci (Pfeiffer et al 2019) support its monophyletic status. Moreover, mitogenome-based Unionida phylogenies reconstructed to date have been based on either F-or M-type mitogenomes (Froufe et al 2016;Fonseca et al 2016;Lopes-Lima et al 2017b).…”