The complete mitochondrial genome of the Xenocatantops brachycerus (Orthoptera: Catantopidae)

The Complete Mitogenomes of Three Grasshopper Species with Special Notes on the Phylogenetic Positions of Some Related Genera

Clarifying phylogenetic position and reconstructing robust phylogeny of groups using various evidences are an eternal theme for taxonomy and systematics. In this study, the complete mitogenomes of Longzhouacris mirabilis, Ranacris albicornis, and Conophyma zhaosuensis were sequenced using next-generation sequencing (NGS), and the characteristics of the mitogenomes are presented briefly. The mitogenomes of the three species are all circular molecules with total lengths of 16,164 bp, 15,720 bp, and 16,190 bp, respectively. The gene structures and orders, as well as the characteristics of the mitogenomes, are similar to those of other published mitogenomes in Caelifera. The phylogeny of the main subfamilies of Acrididae with prosternal process was reconstructed using a selected dataset of mitogenome sequences under maximum likelihood (ML) and Bayesian inference (BI) frameworks. The results showed that the genus Emeiacris consistently fell into the subfamily Melanoplinae rather than Oxyinae, and the genus Choroedocus had the closest relationship with Shirackiacris of the subfamily Eyprepocnemidinae in both phylogenetic trees deduced from mitogenome protein coding genes (PCGs). This finding is entirely consistent with the morphological characters, which indicate that Emeiacris belongs to Melanoplinae and Choroedocus belongs to Eyprepocnemidinae. In addition, the genera Conophymacris and Xiangelilacris, as well as Ranacris and Menglacris, are two pairs of the closest relatives, but their phylogenetic positions need further study to clarify.

Characterization of the complete mitochondrial genome of the Yunnan endemic grasshopper Longchuanacris curvifurculus (Insecta: Orthoptera: Catantopidae)

Longchuanacris curvifurculus (L. curvifurculus) was once a dominating grasshopper in the Yunnan province (People's Republic of China) that occupy important ecological niche. However, its population has severely declined because of the deterioration of ecological environment. Identifying the species and source of L. curvifurculus is important for biodiversity conservation and ecological/environmental preservation. In the study, the complete mitochondrial genome of L. curvifurculus was assembled from high-coverage (36.8×) Illumina MiSeq sequencing data. The circular genome is 15,450 bp in length, harboring 37 typical mitochondrial genes and one control region. The nucleotide composition is asymmetric (43.0% A, 14.3% C, 10.5% G, and 32.2% T), with an overall A + T content of 75.2%. All the protein-coding genes (PCGs) are initiated with typical ATN start codons and terminated by the typical TAA codons or the incomplete T(aa) codon. The control region has a remarkably high A + T content (84.9%) and is located between genes rrnS and trnV.

De Novo Assembly and Characterization of the Xenocatantops brachycerus Transcriptome

Grasshoppers are common pests but also have high nutritional and commercial potential. Xenocatantops brachycerus Willemse (Orthoptera: Acrididae) is an economically important grasshopper species that is reared in China. Using the IlluminaHiSeqTM 4000 platform, three transcriptomes of the adult male, adult female, and nymph of X. brachycerus were sequenced. A total of 133,194,848 clean reads were obtained and de novo assembled into 43,187 unigenes with an average length of 964 bp (N50 of 1799 bp); of these, 24,717 (57.23%) unigenes matched known proteins. Based on these annotations, many putative transcripts related to X. brachycerus growth, development, environmental adaptability, and metabolism of nutritional components and bioactive components were identified. In addition, the expression profiles of all three transcriptome datasets were analyzed, and many differentially expressed genes were detected using RSEM and PossionDis. Unigenes. Unigenes with functions associated with growth and development exhibited higher transcript levels at the nymph stage, and unigenes associated with environmental adaptability showed increased transcription in the adults. These comprehensive X. brachycerus transcriptomic data will provide a useful molecular resource for gene prediction, molecular marker development, and studies on signaling pathways in this species and will serve as a reference for the efficient use of other grasshoppers.