First Mitochondrial Genome from Nemouridae (Plecoptera) Reveals Novel Features of the Elongated Control Region and Phylogenetic Implications

Abstract

The complete mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) of <i>Nemoura nankinensis</i> (Plecoptera: Nemouridae) was sequenced as the first reported mitogenome from the family Nemouridae. The <i>N. nankinensis</i> mitogenome was the longest (16,602 bp) among reported plecopteran mitogenomes, and it contains 37 genes including 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 transfer RNA (tRNA) genes and two ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes. Most PCGs used standard ATN as start codons, and TAN as termination codons. All tRNA genes of <i>N. nankinensis</i> could fold into the cloverleaf secondary structures except for <i>trnSer</i> (<i>AGN</i>), whose dihydrouridine (DHU) arm was reduced to a small loop. There was also a large non-coding region (control region, CR) in the <i>N. nankinensis</i> mitogenome. The 1751 bp CR was the longest and had the highest A+T content (81.8%) among stoneflies. A large tandem repeat region, five potential stem-loop (SL) structures, four tRNA-like structures and four conserved sequence blocks (CSBs) were detected in the elongated CR. The presence of these tRNA-like structures in the CR has never been reported in other plecopteran mitogenomes. These novel features of the elongated CR in <i>N. nankinensis</i> may have functions associated with the process of replication and transcription. Finally, phylogenetic reconstruction suggested that Nemouridae was the sister-group of Capniidae.