Characterisation of the Complete Mitochondrial Genome of Critically Endangered Mustela lutreola (Carnivora: Mustelidae) and Its Phylogenetic and Conservation Implications

Abstract

In this paper, a complete mitochondrial genome of the critically endangered European mink Mustela lutreola L., 1761 is reported. The mitogenome was 16,504 bp in length and encoded the typical 13 protein-coding genes, two ribosomal RNA genes and 22 transfer RNA genes, and harboured a putative control region. The A+T content of the entire genome was 60.06% (A > T > C > G), and the AT-skew and GC-skew were 0.093 and −0.308, respectively. The encoding-strand identity of genes and their order were consistent with a collinear gene order characteristic for vertebrate mitogenomes. The start codons of all protein-coding genes were the typical ATN. In eight cases, they were ended by complete stop codons, while five had incomplete termination codons (TA or T). All tRNAs had a typical cloverleaf secondary structure, except tRNASer(AGC) and tRNALys, which lacked the DHU stem and had reduced DHU loop, respectively. Both rRNAs were capable of folding into complex secondary structures, containing unmatched base pairs. Eighty-one single nucleotide variants (substitutions and indels) were identified. Comparative interspecies analyses confirmed the close phylogenetic relationship of the European mink to the so-called ferret group, clustering the European polecat, the steppe polecat and the black-footed ferret. The obtained results are expected to provide useful molecular data, informing and supporting effective conservation measures to save M. lutreola.

Heteroplasmy and tandem repeats reveal adaptation to elevation in the New World Jays (Aves: Corvidae)

“…We found that the NWJ mitogenomes base composition was skewed towards AT, consistent with observations in the Yellow-billed babblers and the weasels (Skorupski, 2022). Our finding supports the hypothesis that codon usage bias is positively correlated with the AT content in the third codon position (Skorupski, 2022). In addition, we found a trend between the mitogenome size and base composition.…”

“…Base composition between the NWJs varies slightly among species and is a metric that distinguishes them. We found that the NWJ mitogenomes base composition was skewed towards AT, consistent with observations in the Yellow-billed babblers and the weasels (Skorupski, 2022). Our finding supports the hypothesis that codon usage bias is positively correlated with the AT content in the third codon position (Skorupski, 2022).…”

The mitochondrial genome of the mountain wooly tapir, Tapirus pinchaque and a formal test of the effect of altitude on the adaptive evolution of mitochondrial protein coding genes in odd-toed ungulates

“…5 ), which is known as a D-loop stop point [ 80 ]. Previous studies have also identified this motif in another mammalian CR [ 81 , 82 ]. The Central domain sequence is also A + T rich (57.2%).…”

Complete mitogenomes reveal limited genetic variability in the garden dormouse Eliomys quercinus of the Iberian Peninsula

“…Las fotos de los animales no están a escala, se pueden ver los agradecimientos en el apartado "Acknowledgements". to identify unique lineages (Knaus et al, 2011;Johri et al, 2020;Sun et al, 2021), an achievement which is particularly important in the case of endangered species for which new entire mitogenomes are being generated for this specific purpose (Ruiz et al, 2021;Wang et al, 2021;Skorupski, 2022).…”