Comparative Mitochondrial Genomics of 104 Darwin Wasps (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) and Its Implication for Phylogeny

Abstract

Ichneumonidae is one of the largest families of insects with a mega-diversity of specialized morphological and biological characteristics. We newly sequenced 92 mitochondrial genomes of ichneumonid wasps and found that they have a conserved base composition and a lower evolutionary rate than that of other families of parasitic Hymenoptera. There are 38 types of gene order in the ichneumonid mitochondrial genome, with 30 novel types identified in 104 ichneumonids. We also found that the rearrangement events occur more frequently in Ophioniformes than in Ichneumoniformes and Pimpliformes. Furthermore, the higher Ophioniformes and their relative lineages shared the transposition of trnL2 to trnI-trnQ-trnM tRNA cluster. We confirmed five higher-level groupings of Ichneumonidae: Brachycyrtiformes, Ichneumoniformes, Ophioniformes, Pimpliformes and Xoridiformes. Two formerly unplaced subfamilies, Eucerotinae and Microleptinae, were placed in Brachycyrtiformes and Ichneumoniformes, respectively. The results will improve our understanding of the diversity and evolution of Ichneumonidae.

Comparative mitogenomes reveal diverse and novel gene rearrangements in the genus Meteorus (Hymenoptera: Braconidae)

“…Meanwhile, the five most frequently used codons UUA, AUU, UUU, AUA and AAU were observed in the mitogenomes due to the high A + T content in the mitogenomes. These results are consistent with other published wasp mitogenomes ( Zhu et al, 2018 ; Zheng et al, 2022 ).…”

“…1) to 83.37% ( M. pulchricornis ) ( Supplementary Table S3 ). The size of the PCGs in the three mitochondrial genomes was similar to other wasps ( Zheng et al, 2021 ; Shu et al, 2022 ; Zheng et al, 2022 ). The AT-skew in three Meteorus mitogenomes was negative (−0.1574 to −0.1479), and the GC-skew was positive (0.0662–0.1088) ( Supplementary Table S3 ).…”

“…tRNA rearrangements are usually conserved in the same genus in Hymenoptera ( Jasso-Martinez et al, 2022a ). Although different rearrangement of tRNAs within the same genus in Hymenoptera has been reported in Aphelinidae, Chrysididae and Ichneumonidae ( Zhu et al, 2018 ; Zheng et al, 2021 ; Zheng et al, 2022 ), the tRNA rearrangements within Meteorus in Braconidae were more dramatic than in the aforementioned families, which exhibited only one or two different tRNA rearrangements in the same genus. To our knowledge, the various tRNA rearrangement patterns within the same genus had not been found in the other insects.…”

First mitochondrial genome of subfamily Julodinae (Coleoptera, Buprestidae) with its phylogenetic implications

“…In the past two decades, the mitochondrial genome emerged as important molecular data for higher-level phylogenetic analyses ( Saccone et al 1999 ; Timmermans et al 2010 , 2016 ; Cameron 2014 ; Li et al 2015 ; Qin et al 2015 ; Nie et al 2020 , 2021 ; Motyka et al 2022 ; Zheng et al 2022 ), evolutionary strategies ( Krzywinski et al 2011 ; Nie et al 2019 ; Motyka et al 2022 ; Zhang et al 2022 ), and genetic diversity analyses ( Lim et al 2021 ). The buprestid mitogenome also caught the attention of taxonomists.…”

Mitogenomic Comparison of the Mole Crickets Gryllotalpidae with the Phylogenetic Implications (Orthoptera: Ensifera)

“…The mitochondrial genomes (or mitogenomes) of insects are double-stranded circular molecules with lengths ranging from approximately 15 kb to 20 kb, and generally comprise 37 genes with 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 transfer RNA genes (tRNAs), two ribosome RNA genes (rRNAs) and a non-coding control region (CR) [ 1 ]. Mitogenomes are one of the most information-rich characteristics, and are useful in phylogeny, evolutionary history, species delimitation and population genetics [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ]. Such studies have been well documented in many insect groups, and greatly contributed to understanding their phylogeny and evolution [ 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 ].…”