The complete mitochondrial genome of Parnassius imperator (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae: Parnassiinae)

The complete mitochondrial genome of Papilio glaucus and its phylogenetic implications

Due to the intriguing morphology, lifecycle, and diversity of butterflies and moths, Lepidoptera are emerging as model organisms for the study of genetics, evolution and speciation. The progress of these studies relies on decoding Lepidoptera genomes, both nuclear and mitochondrial. Here we describe a protocol to obtain mitogenomes from Next Generation Sequencing reads performed for whole-genome sequencing and report the complete mitogenome of Papilio (Pterourus) glaucus. The circular mitogenome is 15,306 bp in length and rich in A and T. It contains 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 transfer-RNA-coding genes (tRNA), and 2 ribosomal-RNA-coding genes (rRNA), with a gene order typical for mitogenomes of Lepidoptera. We performed phylogenetic analyses based on PCG and RNA-coding genes or protein sequences using Bayesian Inference and Maximum Likelihood methods. The phylogenetic trees consistently show that among species with available mitogenomes Papilio glaucus is the closest to Papilio (Agehana) maraho from Asia.

The complete mitochondrial genome of Parnassius cephalus (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae: Parnassinae)

The complete mitochondrial genome of Parnassius cephalus is 15,343 bp in length, containing 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 tRNA genes, 2 ribosomal RNA genes and a noncoding AT-rich region. All the 13 PCGs are initiated with the codon ATN, except for COI gene which starts with codon CGA. Eleven PCGs stop with the termination codon TAN, while the COI and COII genes end with single nucleotide T. All the tRNA genes have the typical secondary clover-leaf structures except tRNA^{Ser (AGN)}, which loses its DHU stem. The two rRNA genes (lrRNA and srRNA) are 1341 bp and 777 bp in length, with their AT contents being 83.75% and 85.33%, respectively. The AT-rich region is 487 bp in length, and contains some conservative structures similar to other butterfly mitogenomes, such as a 17 bp poly-T stretch preceded by the ATAGA motif, and a microsatellite-like (AT)₁₀ element preceded by the ATTTA motif.