Proposal of a new nomenclature for introns in protein-coding genes in fungal mitogenomes

Abstract

Abstract Fungal mitochondrial genes are often invaded by group I or II introns, which represent an ideal marker for understanding fungal evolution. A standard nomenclature of mitochondrial introns is needed to avoid confusion when comparing different fungal mitogenomes. Currently, there has been a standard nomenclature for introns present in rRNA genes, but there is a lack of a standard nomenclature for introns present in protein-coding genes. In this study, we propose a new nomenclature system for introns in fungal mitochondrial protein-coding genes based on (1) three-letter abbreviation of host scientific name, (2) host gene name, (3), one capital letter P (for group I introns), S (for group II introns), or U (for introns with unknown types), and (4) intron insertion site in the host gene according to the cyclosporin-producing fungus Tolypocladium inflatum . The suggested nomenclature was proved feasible by naming introns present in mitogenomes of 16 fungi of different phyla , including both basal and higher fungal lineages although minor adjustment of the nomenclature is needed to fit certain special conditions. The nomenclature also had the potential to name plant/protist/animal mitochondrial introns. We hope future studies follow the proposed nomenclature to ensure direct comparison across different studies.