Characterization of the Complete Mitochondrial Genomes of Two Species with Preliminary Investigation on Phylogenetic Status of Zyginellini (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Typhlocybinae)

Abstract

To explore the characteristics of mitogenomes and reveal phylogenetic relationships of the tribes of Zyginellini and Typhlocybini in Typhlocybinae, mitogenomes of two species of the Zyginellini, <i>Parazyginella</i> <i>tiani</i> and <i>Limassolla</i> sp., were sequenced. Mitogenomes of both species contain 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 transfer RNA genes (tRNAs), two ribosomal RNA genes (rRNAs) and a large non-coding region (A + T-rich region). These characteristics are similar to other Membracoidea mitogenomes. All PCGs initiate with the standard start codon of ATN and terminate with the complete stop codon of TAA/G or with an incomplete T codon. All tRNAs have the typical clover-leaf structure, except <i>trnS1</i> which has a reduced DHU arm and the acceptor stem of <i>trnR</i> is 5 or 6 bp in some species, an unusual feature here reported for the first time in Typhlocybinae. The A + T-rich region is highly variable in length and in numbers of tandem repeats present. Our analyses indicate that <i>nad6</i> and <i>atp6</i> exhibit higher evolutionary rates compared to other PCGs. Phylogenetic analyses by both maximum likelihood and Bayesian methods based on 13 protein-coding genes of 12 species of Typhlocybinae suggest that Zyginellini are paraphyletic with respect to Typhlocybini.