title: The mitochondrial genome of the pinewood nematode (Bursaphelenchus xylophilus) lineage introduced in Europe.
abstract: The pinewood nematode (PWN) Bursaphelenchus xylophilus is the causative agent of pine wilt disease and the greatest biological threat to conifer forests worldwide. Here we describe the near-complete mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequence (12,945 bp) of the PWN lineage recently introduced in Europe. The absence of polymorphisms across the mtDNA of three Portuguese isolates suggests that a single mitochondrial lineage was introduced in southwestern Europe. We also found that Portuguese isolates have an incomplete stop codon (TA) at COX3, while the reference mtDNA from a South Korean isolate has a complete stop codon (TAA). Moreover, two insertion/deletion polymorphisms change the ND4 protein in a stretch of seven amino acids, and a polymorphic mononucleotide repeat alters the predicted structure of the tyrosine tRNA in different geographical isolates. Overall, the new PWN mtDNA sequence provides a basis for studying the European dispersion of this important invasive species.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular Pathology and Immunology, University of Porto (IPATIMUP) , Porto , Portugal .
authors.forename: Cláudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Moreira
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: van Asch
authors.forename: Luís
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Fonseca
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Pereira-Castro
authors.forename: Raquel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.forename: Luísa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Azevedo
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mota
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Abrantes
authors.forename: António
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Amorim
authors.forename: Filipe
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pereira
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D018388:Codon, Terminator / Q000235:genetics; D019295:Computational Biology; D050259:Genes, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics*; D054629:Genome, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics*; D054643:INDEL Mutation / Q000235:genetics; D058865:Introduced Species; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011174:Portugal; D056910:Republic of Korea; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017187:Tylenchida / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D018388:Codon, Terminator
keywords: Bursaphelenchus xylophilus; incomplete stop codon; indel; mitochondrial DNA; mononucleotide repeat; pine wilt disease