The mitochondrial genome of UK (non-native) Dikerogammarus haemobaphes (Amphipoda: Gammaridae) informs upon Dikerogammarus evolution, invasions and associated microparasites

Abstract

The amphipod Dikerogammarus haemobaphes is a high-risk carrier of parasites that impact wildlife in its non-native range. Studies using the mitochondrial genes, Cytochrome Oxidase Sub-Unit 1 (cox1) and small-subunit ribosomal RNA gene (16S), provide some nucleotide detail for understanding the evolution and phylogeography of this species. Despite this, the origins of the invasion remain unknown, as do the origins of its parasites. This study provides the full annotated mitochondrial genome (15,460 bp) of D. haemobaphes, consisting of 2 rRNAs, 24 tRNAs and 14 protein coding genes. Mitochondrial genes from the UK isolate are compared to existing data on NCBI and are used in a concatenated phylogenetic approach and identify D. haemobaphes as an early member of the Gammaridae (Amphipoda). Viral, bacterial, protistan and microsporidian parasites are present across the Gammaridae, including D. haemobaphes, suggesting the ancestor of the Gammaridae harboured related diseases, and that further screening of amphipods is likely to reveal further microparasite diversity. This correlation suggests that other gammarid invaders have the potential to harbour a range of microparasites. The mitochondrial genome of this species will act a resource to facilitate our understanding of geneflow, disease epidemiology and evolutionary history in this invasion-disease model.

Mitochondrial Genomes, Phylogenetic Associations, and SNP Recovery for the Key Invasive Ponto-Caspian Amphipods in Europe

“…The mitogenomic diversity data collected in this study provide information regarding the resolution of their taxonomic affinities [ 39 ] and presents a foundation for further genetic tool development to benefit their identification, colonization route(s), and population dynamics. The accumulation of mitogenomic data for the group is progressing [ 55 ]; however, it is important to stress that all genomic resources, prior to incorporating in analyses, should be properly validated. For superfamily Gammaroidea we have detected two cases of species misidentification.…”

“…The structure of the amphipod mitochondrial genome resembles the general structure of other animal mitogenomes; being small (14–18 kb) circular molecules and having ~37 genes: 13 protein coding, 2 rRNA, and 22 tRNA [ 53 ]. Due to their small size and relative abundance, the complete mitogenome sequences are relatively easy to obtain from next generation sequencing projects [ 43 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 ], as well as for the widely distributed freshwater Palearctic superfamily, Gammaroidea [ 50 , 51 , 52 , 58 ]. It is common for an important resource, mitochondrial transcripts, to not be assembled and published, despite the fact that a large number of reads in each data set belong to the mitochondrial genome [ 59 ].…”

“…Pertinent to the Dikerogammarus spp., ref. [ 55 ] published the first mitochondrial genome for a single D. haemobaphes from an invasive population in England, which became the first reported full mitogenome for the family Pontogammaridae. Moreover, ref.…”

“…Moreover, ref. [ 55 ] reported a potential recombination and duplication of a tRNA, as well as a putative duplication of an ATP8-like gene within the control region (CR). The primary goal of our study is to provide a comparative reconstruction of mitogenomes of four invasive gammarids of Pontio-Caspian origin ( D. villosus , D. haemobaphes , D. bispinosus , and P. robustoides ).…”

The complete mitogenome of freshwater gammarid Grandidierella taihuensis (Crustacea: Amphipoda)

“…1990 ) and Dongting Lake in China (Dai et al. 2000 ), as well as a resource to understand disease epidemiology (Bojko 2020 ). Recently, three complete mitochondrial genome sequences of the genus Grandidierella have been reported (Hiki et al.…”