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Fragmentation in mitochondrial genomes in relation to elevated sequence divergence and extreme rearrangements2.94 MB
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Journal article
Fragmentation in mitochondrial genomes in relation to elevated sequence divergence and extreme rearrangements
BMC Biology, Vol.20(1), pp.7-7
2022
PMID: 34996453
Abstract
A single circular mitochondrial (mt) genome is a common feature across most metazoans. The mt-genome includes protein-coding genes involved in oxidative phosphorylation, as well as RNAs necessary for translation of mt-RNAs, whose order and number are highly conserved across animal clades, with few known exceptions of alternative mt-gene order or mt-genome architectures. One such exception consists of the fragmented mitochondrial genome, a type of genome architecture where mt-genes are split across two or more mt-chromosomes. However, the origins of mt-genome fragmentation and its effects on mt-genome evolution are unknown. Here, we investigate these origin and potential mechanisms underlying mt-genome fragmentation, focusing on a genus of booklice, Liposcelis, which exhibits elevated sequence divergence, frequent rearrangement of mt-gene order, and fragmentation of the mt genome, and compare them to other Metazoan clades.
We found this genus Liposcelis exhibits very low conservation of mt-gene order across species, relative to other metazoans. Levels of gene order rearrangement were, however, unrelated to whether or not mt-genomes were fragmented or intact, suggesting mitochondrial genome fragmentation is not affecting mt-gene order directly. We further investigated possible mechanisms underpinning these patterns and revealed very high conservation of non-coding sequences at the edges of multiple recombination regions across populations of one particular Liposcelis species, supportive of a hypothesis that mt-fragmentation arises from recombination errors between mt-genome copies. We propose these errors may arise as a consequence of a heightened mutation rate in clades exhibiting mt-fragmentation. Consistent with this, we observed a striking pattern across three Metazoan phyla (Arthropoda, Nematoda, Cnidaria) characterised by members exhibiting high levels of mt-gene order rearrangement and cases of mt-fragmentation, whereby the mt-genomes of species more closely related to species with fragmented mt-genomes diverge more rapidly despite experiencing strong purifying selection.
We showed that contrary to expectations, mt-genome fragmentation is not correlated with the increase in mt-genome rearrangements. Furthermore, we present evidence that fragmentation of the mt-genome may be part of a general relaxation of a natural selection on the mt-genome, thus providing new insights into the origins of mt-genome fragmentation and evolution.
Details
- Title
- Fragmentation in mitochondrial genomes in relation to elevated sequence divergence and extreme rearrangements
- Authors
- Shiqian Feng (Author) - School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, 3800, AustraliaAndrea Pozzi (Author) - Monash UniversityVaclav Stejskal (Author) - Czech University of Life Sciences PragueGeorge Opit (Author) - Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, Oklahoma State University, Oklahoma, 74078, USAQianqian Yang (Author) - Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Biometrology and Inspection & Quarantine, College of Life Sciences, China Jiliang University, Hangzhou, 310018, ChinaRenfu Shao (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, GeneCology Research Centre - LegacyDamian K Dowling (Author) - Monash UniversityZhihong Li (Author) - Department of Plant Biosecurity, College of Plant Protection, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100193, China. lizh@cau.edu.cn
- Publication details
- BMC Biology, Vol.20(1), pp.7-7
- Publisher
- BioMed Central Ltd.
- Date published
- 2022
- DOI
- 10.1186/s12915-021-01218-7
- ISSN
- 1741-7007
- PMID
- 34996453
- Organisation Unit
- University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Science, Technology and Engineering; Centre for Bioinnovation
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99598308302621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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