The Hequ Tibetan Mastiff Canis lupus familiaris (Carnivora: Canidae) is a primitive breed of large dogs native to the northeastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau of China. In this study, its complete mitochondrial genome sequence has been assembled and characterized using high-throughput Illumina sequencing technology. The circular genome is 16 730 bp in length, and possesses all genomic components as typically found in most other metazoan mitogenomes. The gene arrangement is identical to those of most other vertebrates. Except for ND4L with GTG as its start codon, all the other PCGs are initiated with an ATR (ATA/ATG) codon. Three distinct stop codons are employed, i.e. AGA for CYTB, TAA for ATP6, ATP8, COX1, COX2, ND1, ND4L, ND5 and ND6, and an incomplete stop codon T for COX3, ND2, ND3 and ND4. The nucleotide composition is asymmetric (31.6% A, 25.5% C, 14.2% G and 28.7% T) with an overall A + T content of 60.3%. These data would contribute to our better understanding its evolutionary history.
Keywords: Canis lupus familiaris; Hequ Tibetan Mastiff; Illumina sequencing; mitogenome.