This study represents the largest GWAS on pemphigus in the Chinese population published to date, and has allowed us to identify HLA haplotypes significantly shared between or specific to the two main subtypes of pemphigus.

The complete mitochondrial genome of Episymploce splendens, 15,802 bp in length, was determined and annotated in this study. The mito-genome included 13 PCGs, 20 tRNAs and 2 rRNAs. Unlike most typical mito-genomes with conservative gene arrangement and exceptional economic organization, E. splendens mito-genome has two tRNAs (tRNA-Gln and tRNA-Met) absence and a long intergenic spacer sequence (93 bp) between tRNA-Val and srRNA, showing the diversified features of insect mito-genomes. This is the first report of the tRNAs deletion in blattarian mito-genomes and we supported the duplication/random loss model as the origin mechanism of the long intergenic spacer. Two Numts, Numt-1 (557 bp) and Numt-2 (975 bp) transferred to the nucleus at about 14.15 Ma to 22.34 Ma, and 19.19 Ma to 24.06 Ma respectively, were found in E. splendens. They can be used as molecular fossils in insect phylogenetic relationship inference. Our study provided useful data for further studies on the evolution of insect mito-genome.

The American cockroach (Periplaneta americana) is a globally invasive pest that can cause significant economic loss and threaten human health. Although it is abundant and lives in close proximity to humans, few studies have investigated the genetic diversity of P. americana. Our study analyzed 1,053 P. americana and other Periplaneta species' samples from different locations in China and the United States. A traditional tree‐based method using 17 unique mitochondrial COI haplotypes of P. americana and 20 haplotypes of the other Periplaneta species accurately identified P. americana with a barcoding threshold of 5.1%. To identify the population genetic structure of P. americana, we investigated wingless gene and pooled them with obtained mtDNA data for a combined analysis. Although the genetic diversity of the USA group was relatively higher than the China group, the number of haplotypes and alleles of both groups was small. The analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA), intraspecific phylogeny, and haplotype networks indicated that P. americana had very little global genetic differentiation. The weak geographic genetic structure might reflect the human‐mediated dispersal of P. americana. Despite no apparent phylogeographic assignment of mtDNA and nuclear lineages was observed in both BI trees, the integrated COI sequence data identified four distinct P. americana haplotype groups, showing four ancient maternal lineages of P. americana in China and the United States.

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Diet analysis is essential to fully understanding the biology of a species and its function within the ecosystem, and is also key in identifying food web interactions and the population dynamics of predators and prey. There is currently little information on the diet of small to mid-sized carnivores due to their elusive behavior. We used a DNA-based method to analyze the vertebrate prey of the Pallas’s cat (Otocolobus manul) in the Gongga Mountain Nature Reserve of southwestern China, a global biodiversity hotspot region. We confirmed 14 scat samples containing the Pallas’s cat DNA from 100 small carnivore scats collected at altitudes between 3200 and 4900 m, and then performed polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplifications using primers targeting the vertebrate mitochondrial 12S rRNA gene with a blocking oligonucleotide specific to the predator sequence. We identified a total of 18 prey taxa, including nine mammals, eight birds and one fish. Our results show that pikas (in 79% of the scats) and birds (in 50% of the scats) are the predominant prey consumed by the Pallas’s cat in our investigation area. The most important finding in our study is that Cypriniformes species were found in the Pallas’s cat’s diet, exhibiting dietary diversification consistent with the accessible fauna of the surrounding environment. In order to increase the detectability of both typical and rare vertebrate prey items, we constructed a blocking primer to inhibit the amplification of the Pallas’s cat DNA.

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