First complete mitogenomes of Diamesinae, Orthocladiinae, Prodiamesinae, Tanypodinae (Diptera: Chironomidae) and their implication in phylogenetics

Abstract

Background The mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) has been extensively used for phylogenetic and evolutionary analysis in Diptera, but the study of mitogenome is still scarce in the family Chironomidae. Methods Here, the first complete mitochondrial genomes of four Chironomid species representing Diamesinae, Orthocladiinae, Prodiamesinae and Tanypodinae are presented. Coupled with published mitogenomes of two, a comparative mitochondrial genomic analysis between six subfamilies of Chironomidae was carried out. Results Mitogenomes of Chironomidae are conserved in structure, each contains 37 typical genes and a control region, and all genes arrange the same gene order as the ancestral insect mitogenome. Nucleotide composition is highly biased, the control region displayed the highest A + T content. All protein coding genes are under purifying selection, and the ATP8 evolves at the fastest rate. In addition, the phylogenetic analysis covering six subfamilies within Chironomidae was conducted. The monophyly of Chironomidae is strongly supported. However, the topology of six subfamilies based on mitogenomes in this study is inconsistent with previous morphological and molecular studies. This may be due to the high mutation rate of the mitochondrial genetic markers within Chironomidae. Our results indicate that mitogenomes showed poor signals in phylogenetic reconstructions at the subfamily level of Chironomidae.

Mitogenomes provide new insights into the evolutionary history of Prodiamesinae (Diptera: Chironomidae)

“…Previous study has suggested that mitogenomes have poor phylogenetic signals at the subfamily level of Chironomidae (Zheng et al, 2021). However, our study reveals that the mitogenomes of Orthocladiinae sensu lato are highly conserved and practically useful for phylogenetic inference.…”

“…The arrangement of these genes is extremely conservative, consistent with the ancestral insects (Clary & Wolstenholme, 1985). The nucleotide composition of the Orthocladiinae sensu lato mitogenomes is biased towards A + T as in other chironomids (Beckenbach, 2012;Deviatiiarov et al, 2017;Zheng et al, 2021). The A + T content of the whole mitogenome ranges from 75.1% (Propsilocerus paradoxus) to 80.6% (Thienemanniella nipponica).…”

“…To date, only two mitogenomes of Prodiamesinae are currently available, namely Prodiamesa and Propsilocerus (Zhang, Xu, et al, 2019;Zheng et al, 2021). Herein, we provide two newly sequenced complete mitogenomes of Prodiamesinae accompanied by eight newly sequenced complete mitogenomes of Orthocladiinae and carry out phylogenetic analysis along with public data.…”

First report of the complete mitogenome of Microchironomus tabarui Sasa, 1987 (Diptera, Chironomidae) from Hebei Province, China

“… 2021 ; Zheng et al. 2021 ). In this study, we provide the first complete mitochondrial genome of M. tabarui .…”

First report of the complete mitogenome of Tanypus punctipennis Meigen, 1818 (Diptera, Chironomidae) from Hebei Province, China

“… 2021 ; Zheng et al. 2021 ). In this study, we provide the first complete mitochondrial genome of T. punctipennis .…”