The Postman Butterfly (Heliconius melpomene) is one of the heliconiine butterflies found in the Central and South America. In this study, the complete mitochondrial genome sequence of its subspecies, Heliconius melpomene rosina, is determined for the first time. Results show that this circular genome is 15,327 bp in length, and consists of 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 transfer RNAs (tRNAs), 2 ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs) and a putative control region (D-loop). The genome organization, nucleotide composition and codon usage are identical to those reported from other butterfly mitochondrial genomes. The whole nucleotide composition is 39.33% of A, 42.33% of T, 10.88% of C and 7.46% of G, with a relatively lower level of G and an extremely higher AT content of 81.66%. Most of the PCGs initiate with the ATN start codons except for ND1 and COX1 genes, which separately start with TTG and CGA. Totally 13 PCGs terminate with the standard canonical stop codons of TAA/TAG/TGA or an incomplete stop codon of T- -. The mitochondrial genome sequence reported here would be potentially useful for the phylogenetic studies in butterflies.
Keywords: H. m. rosina; Postman Butterfly; mitochondrial genome.