title: The conserved mitochondrial gene distribution in relatives of Turritopsis nutricula, an immortal jellyfish.
abstract: Turritopsis nutricula (T. nutricula) is the one of the known reported organisms that can revert its life cycle to the polyp stage even after becoming sexually mature, defining itself as the only immortal organism in the animal kingdom. Therefore, the animal is having prime importance in basic biological, aging, and biomedical researches. However, till date, the genome of this organism has not been sequenced and even there is no molecular phylogenetic study to reveal its close relatives. Here, using phylogenetic analysis based on available 16s rRNA gene and protein sequences of Cytochrome oxidase subunit-I (COI or COX1) of T. nutricula, we have predicted the closest relatives of the organism. While we found Nemopsis bachei could be closest organism based on COX1 gene sequence; T. dohrnii may be designated as the closest taxon to T. nutricula based on rRNA. Moreover, we have figured out four species that showed similar root distance based on COX1 protein sequence.
authors.affiliation: Department of Genomic Science, Central University of Kerala, Riverside Transit Campus, Opp: Nehru College of Arts and Science, NH 17, Padanakkad, Nileshwer, Kasaragod, Kerala-671328, INDIA ; Genomics & Molecular Medicine Unit, Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Mathura Road, New Delhi-110025, INDIA.
authors.forename: Pratap
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Devarapalli
authors.affiliation: Department of Genomic Science, Central University of Kerala, Riverside Transit Campus, Opp: Nehru College of Arts and Science, NH 17, Padanakkad, Nileshwer, Kasaragod, Kerala-671328, INDIA.
authors.forename: Ranjith N
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Kumavath
authors.affiliation: Centre for Genomics and Applied Gene Technology, Institute of Integrative Omics and Applied Biotechnology (IIOAB), Nonakuri, PurbaMedinipur, West Bengal-721172, INDIA.
authors.forename: Debmalya
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Barh
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. MG, Brazil.
authors.forename: Vasco
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Azevedo
keywords: Turritopsis nutricula; immortal jellyfish; phylogeny; relativeness; trans-differentiation