The phylogenetic and taxonomic position of the American mink Neovison vison have long been unclear. In this paper, the complete mitogenome of N. vison was sequenced and characterized. The total length was 16,594 bp and typically consists of 37 genes, including 13 protein-coding genes, 2 rRNAs, 22 tRNA, a large control region (CR) and a light-strand replication origin (OL). Gene contents, locations, and arrangements were identical to those of typical vertebrate. The overall base composition is 33.6%, 25.4%, 27.8% and 13.3% for A, C, T and G, respectively, with a moderate bias on AT content (61.4%). This result is expected to provide useful molecular data and contribute to further taxonomic and phylogenetic studies of Mustelidae and Carnivora.
Keywords: American mink; Mustelinae; mitogenome; phylogeny.