The Complete Mitochondrial Genome of the Chinese White Wax Scale Insect, Ericerus pela Chavannes (Hemiptera: Coccidae), with Novel Gene Arrangement and Truncated tRNA Genes

Jia-Qi An; Shu-Hui Yu; Shu-Jun Wei; Hong-Ping Zhang; Yuan-Chong Shi; Qiu-Yu Zhao; Zuo-Yi Fu; Pu Yang

doi:10.3390/insects14030290

The Complete Mitochondrial Genome of the Chinese White Wax Scale Insect, Ericerus pela Chavannes (Hemiptera: Coccidae), with Novel Gene Arrangement and Truncated tRNA Genes

Insects. 2023 Mar 16;14(3):290. doi: 10.3390/insects14030290.

Authors

Jia-Qi An^{1

2}, Shu-Hui Yu³, Shu-Jun Wei⁴, Hong-Ping Zhang³, Yuan-Chong Shi¹, Qiu-Yu Zhao³, Zuo-Yi Fu¹, Pu Yang^{1

5}

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Highland Forest Science, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Kunming 650224, China.
² College of Biology and Environment, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China.
³ College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Kunming University, Kunming 650214, China.
⁴ Institute of Plant Protection, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Beijing 100097, China.
⁵ Key Laboratory of Breeding and Utilization of Resource Insects of National Forestry and Grassland Administration, Kunming 650224, China.

Abstract

The Chinese white wax scale insect, Ericerus pela Chavannes (Hemiptera: Coccidae), is one of the scale insects with great economic value and has been dispersed and reared in China for over one thousand years. Its mitochondrial genome provides essential information for the molecular identification and genetic study of this species. We assembled the complete mitochondrial genome of E. pela based on PacBio sequencing and analyzed its genomic features. The genome was 17,766 bp in length with 13 protein-coding genes, 22 tRNAs, and two rRNA genes. The analysis results showed E. pela had significant gene rearrangements involving tRNAs compared with other Coccoidea species. Furthermore, E. pela's nine tRNAs were identified to have obvious truncated structures. The phylogenetic tree compiled of the species showed a long branch of the Coccoidea lineage, which indicated the high evolutionary rate in this group. Our study revealed the mitochondrial characteristics of E. pela and enriched the mitochondrial genetic information on Coccoidea species. It also determined the occurrence of gene rearrangement for the species in this superfamily.

Keywords: Coccoidea superfamily; PacBio sequencing; gene rearrangement; mitochondrial genome.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Applied Basic Research Foundation of Yunnan Province (No. 202101AS070042), the Young and Middle-Aged Academic and Technical Leaders Reserve Talent Project of Yunnan Province (Grant No. 202105AC160031), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31572337).