Mitochondrial genomes of four katydids (Orthoptera: Phaneropteridae): New gene rearrangements and their phylogenetic implications

Abstract

Phaneropteridae is a family of Orthoptera that displays an amazing amount of diversity in terms of both forms and species. We sequenced the mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) of two bush katydids: Ruidocollaris obscura and Kuwayamaea brachyptera (Phaneropterinae), and two true katydids: Orophyllus montanus and Phyllomimus detersus (Pseudophyllinae), to obtain further insight into the characteristics of the katydid mitogenomes and to investigate the taxonomic status of subfamily Pseudophyllinae and the diversity of gene arrangements among Phaneropteridae. The following general genomic characteristics were observed in the four katydids: a longer length of the mitogenomes (16,007bp-16,667bp) compared with Caelifera, abundant intergenic spacers, and accepted atypical initiation codons (GTG and TTG, found in cox1, nad1 and nad2). A new orientation of the gene arrangement "trnM-trnI-trnQ" was identified in P. detersus, which is the first representative of Polyneoptera found to carry this gene cluster. Large identical fragments (492bp) were detected in control region 1 (CR1) and control region 2 (CR2) of R. obscura. The high similarity of the duplicated CRs is likely due to a recent gene duplication or concerted evolution. Analyses of the duplicated CRs revealed one conserved stem-loop (on the N-strand) located in the identical sequences of both CRs that might be linked to replication initiation. Phylogenetic analyses based on 13 protein-coding genes and 2 ribosomal RNA genes from 20 Ensiferan species yielded the identical topologies between two different methods (maximum likelihood and bayesian inference). The newly sequenced Pseudophyllinae species was placed as the sister group of Phaneropterinae, and Mecopodinae clustered with Pseudophyllinae+Phaneropterinae. Additionally, we speculate that the species in Ruidocollaris and Sinochlora, as well as their closely related genera, may have undergone numerous rearrangement events.

Keywords: Duplicated control regions; Gene rearrangement; Mitochondrial genome; Phaneropteridae; Pseudophyllinae.