title: Species-specific mitochondrial gene rearrangements in biting midges and vector species identification.
abstract: Partial mitochondrial gene sequences of 16 Culicoides species were determined to elucidate phylogenetic relations among species and to develop a molecular identification method for important virus vector species. In addition, the analysis found mitochondrial gene rearrangement in several species. Sequences of the mitochondrial genome region, cox1-trnL2-cox2 (1940-3785 bp) of 16 Culicoides and additional sequences were determined in some species, including whole mitochondrial genome sequences of Culicoides arakawae. Nine species showed common organization in this region, with three genes cox1-trnL2-cox2 and a small or no intergenic region (0-30 bp) between them. The other seven species showed translocation of tRNA and protein-coding genes and/or insertion of AT-rich non-coding sequences (65-1846 bp) between the genes. The varied gene rearrangements among species within a genus is very rare for mitochondrial genome organization. Phylogenetic analyses based on the sequences of cox1+cox2 suggest a few clades among Japanese Culicoides species. No relationships between phylogenetic closeness and mitochondrial gene rearrangements were observed. Sequence data were used to establish a polymerase chain reaction tool to distinguish three important vector species from other Culicoides species, for which classification during larval stages is not advanced and identification is difficult.
authors.affiliation: Insect-Microbe Research Unit, National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences, Ibaraki, Japan. matsumt@affrc.go.jp
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Matsumoto
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yanase
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tsuda
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Noda
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002519:Ceratopogonidae / Q000235:genetics*; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV / Q000235:genetics; D050259:Genes, Mitochondrial; D049750:Genome, Insect; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV