Complete mitochondrial genome sequence of the "copper moss" Mielichhoferia elongata reveals independent nad7 gene functionality loss

Denis V Goryunov; Svetlana V Goryunova; Oxana I Kuznetsova; Maria D Logacheva; Irina A Milyutina; Alina V Fedorova; Michael S Ignatov; Aleksey V Troitsky

doi:10.7717/peerj.4350

Complete mitochondrial genome sequence of the "copper moss" Mielichhoferia elongata reveals independent nad7 gene functionality loss

PeerJ. 2018 Feb 2:6:e4350. doi: 10.7717/peerj.4350. eCollection 2018.

Authors

Denis V Goryunov¹, Svetlana V Goryunova², Oxana I Kuznetsova³, Maria D Logacheva¹, Irina A Milyutina¹, Alina V Fedorova¹, Michael S Ignatov³, Aleksey V Troitsky¹

Affiliations

¹ Belozersky Institute of Physico-Chemical Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia.
² Institute of General Genetics Russian Academy of Science, Moscow, Russia.
³ Tsitsin Main Botanical Garden Russian Academy of Science, Moscow, Russia.

Abstract

The mitochondrial genome of moss Mielichhoferia elongata has been sequenced and assembled with Spades genome assembler. It consists of 100,342 base pairs and has practically the same gene set and order as in other known bryophyte chondriomes. The genome contains 66 genes including three rRNAs, 24 tRNAs, and 40 conserved mitochondrial proteins genes. Unlike the majority of previously sequenced bryophyte mitogenomes, it lacks the functional nad7 gene. The phylogenetic reconstruction and scrutiny analysis of the primary structure of nad7 gene carried out in this study suggest its independent pseudogenization in different bryophyte lineages. Evaluation of the microsatellite (simple sequence repeat) content of the M. elongata mitochondrial genome indicates that it could be used as a tool in further studies as a phylogenetic marker. The strongly supported phylogenetic tree presented here, derived from 33 protein coding sequences of 40 bryophyte species, is consistent with other reconstructions based on a number of different data sets.

Keywords: Bryophyta; Mitochondrial genome; Phylogenetic tree; Simple sequence repeats; nad7; “Copper moss” Mielichhoferia elongata.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (Nos. 15-04-06027, 18-04-00574, and 15-04-06116). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.