Mitochondrial genome sequencing has become widely used in numerous fields, including systematics, phylogeny, and evolutionary genomics. To elucidate phylogenetic relationships among members of the family Characidae, we sequenced the mitogenomes of four species within this family, namely, Aphyocharax rathbuni, Hyphessobrycon herbertaxelrodi, Hyphessobrycon megalopterus, and Prionobrama filigera. The mitogenomes were found to be 16,678-16,841 bp and encode 37 typical mitochondrial genes (13 protein-coding, 2 ribosomal RNA, and 22 transfer RNA genes). Gene arrangements in the studied species are consistent with those in the inferred ancestral fish. Most protein-coding genes in these mitogenomes have typical ATN start codons and TAR or an incomplete stop codon T-. Phylogenetic relationships based on Bayesian inference and maximum-likelihood methods indicated that A. rathbuni, H. herbertaxelrodi, H. megalopterus, and P. filigera belong to the Characidae family. Of the 15 Characidae species studied, three pairs were of the same genus, but the results for only one pair were well supported. This phylogenetic classification is inconsistent with those described in previous morphological and taxonomic studies on this family. Thus, systematic classification of the Characidae requires further examination. Our findings yield new mitogenomic data that will provide a basis for future phylogenetic and taxonomic studies.
Keywords: American characins; Characidae; Mitogenome; Phylogenetic relationship.
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