Acrididae family is characterized by diverse phylogenetic uncertainties, with different paraphyletic subfamilies. This study characterized the mitogenome of the grasshopper Rhammatocerus brasiliensis and determined its phylogenetic position in the family Acrididae. Sequencing was performed on an Illumina platform. The Short Oligonucleotide Analysis Package (SOAP) was used for genome assembly and the MITOS Web Server for annotation. Phylogenetic analysis was performed using mtDNA nucleic acid and protein sequences of R. brasiliensis and more 63 species belonging to 12 subfamilies of Acrididae. Phylogenetic trees were reconstructed using Bayesian inference with a relaxed molecular clock to estimate the speciation divergence time between taxa. The mitochondrial genome of R. brasiliensis has 15,571 bp of length, is rich in AT (72%), and contains 37 genes, including 13 protein-encoding genes, 22 genes encoding transfer RNA and two genes encoding ribosomal RNA. In addition, we also have annotated intergenic spacers and gene overlaps. The phylogenetic trees based on nucleic acid and amino acid sequences showed similar topologies. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that R. brasiliensis is grouped as an early offset of the Acrididae family. Phylogenetic analyses also corroborated the presence of several paraphyletic subfamilies in the family Acrididae including Gomphocerinae. The positioning of R. brasiliensis in the mtDNA phylogenetic tree further supports paraphyly of this subfamily. Moreover, the basal position of R. brasiliensis suggests that Gomphocerinae probably originated in South America.
Keywords: Grasshopper; Mitochondrial genome; Molecular clock; Nucleic and amino acid phylogeny.
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