Comparative mitogenomics of plant bugs (Hemiptera: Miridae): identifying the AGG codon reassignments between serine and lysine

PLoS One. 2014 Jul 2;9(7):e101375. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0101375. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

Insect mitochondrial genomes are very important to understand the molecular evolution as well as for phylogenetic and phylogeographic studies of the insects. The Miridae are the largest family of Heteroptera encompassing more than 11,000 described species and of great economic importance. For better understanding the diversity and the evolution of plant bugs, we sequence five new mitochondrial genomes and present the first comparative analysis of nine mitochondrial genomes of mirids available to date. Our result showed that gene content, gene arrangement, base composition and sequences of mitochondrial transcription termination factor were conserved in plant bugs. Intra-genus species shared more conserved genomic characteristics, such as nucleotide and amino acid composition of protein-coding genes, secondary structure and anticodon mutations of tRNAs, and non-coding sequences. Control region possessed several distinct characteristics, including: variable size, abundant tandem repetitions, and intra-genus conservation; and was useful in evolutionary and population genetic studies. The AGG codon reassignments were investigated between serine and lysine in the genera Adelphocoris and other cimicomorphans. Our analysis revealed correlated evolution between reassignments of the AGG codon and specific point mutations at the antidocons of tRNALys and tRNASer(AGN). Phylogenetic analysis indicated that mitochondrial genome sequences were useful in resolving family level relationship of Cimicomorpha. Comparative evolutionary analysis of plant bug mitochondrial genomes allowed the identification of previously neglected coding genes or non-coding regions as potential molecular markers. The finding of the AGG codon reassignments between serine and lysine indicated the parallel evolution of the genetic code in Hemiptera mitochondrial genomes.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Codon*
  • Evolution, Molecular*
  • Genome, Insect*
  • Genome, Mitochondrial
  • Genomics
  • Hemiptera / genetics*
  • Lysine / genetics
  • Phylogeny
  • Plants / parasitology*
  • Point Mutation
  • RNA, Transfer / genetics
  • Serine / genetics

Substances

  • Codon
  • Serine
  • RNA, Transfer
  • Lysine

Grants and funding

This research is supported by grants from the Special Fund for Agroscientific Research in the Public Interest (No. 201103012), the National Basic Research Program of China (No. 2013CB127600), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31372229), the National Key Technology R & D Program of the Ministry of Science and Technology (2012BAD19B00) and the Special Fund for Scientific Research (No. 2012FY111100) for Wanzhi Cai; and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 2013M540167), the Chinese Universities Scientific Fund (No.2014BH021) and the Beijing Natural Science Foundation (No. 6144027) for Hu Li. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.