The complete mitochondrial genomes of the Galápagos iguanas, Amblyrhynchus cristatus and Conolophus subcristatus

Abstract

The Galápagos iguanas are among the oldest vertebrate lineages on the Galápagos archipelago, and the evolutionary history of this clade is of great interest to biologists. We describe here the complete mitochondrial genomes of the marine iguana, Amblyrhynchus cristatus (Genbank accession number: KT277937) and the land iguana Conolophus subcristatus (Genbank accession number: KT277936). The genomes contain 13 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer RNAs, and two ribosomal RNAs genes, as well as a control region (CR). Both species have an identical gene order, which matches that of Iguana iguana. The CR of both Galápagos iguanas features similar tandem repeats units, which are absent in I. iguana. We present a phylogeny of the Iguanidae based on complete mitochondrial genomes, which confirms the sister-group relationship of Galápagos iguanas. These new mitochondrial genomes constitute an important data source for future exploration of the phylogenetic relationships and evolutionary history of the Galápagos iguanas.

Proteomics of Galápagos Marine Iguanas Links Function of Femoral Gland Proteins to the Immune System

“…However, proteomics requires established databases containing annotations from a reference genome, which were not previously available for the marine iguana. Until now, the phylogeny and population structure of marine iguanas have mainly been studied in an evolutionary context by analysis of mitochondrial genes and standard nuclear genes, or by detection of genome-wide polymorphisms based on restriction site-associated DNA (RAD) sequencing ( 10 ). The UniProtKB counts only 75 protein entries (73 of them unreviewed) for marine iguanas, illustrating our rudimentary knowledge of protein annotations for this unique iguanid species.…”