AUTHOR=Shu Xiaohan , Yuan Ruizhong , Xia Zhilin , Gao Gui , Yang Lei , Sun Zhirong , Mu Qing , Tang Pu , Chen Xuexin 

TITLE=Comparative mitogenomes reveal diverse and novel gene rearrangements in the genus Meteorus (Hymenoptera: Braconidae)

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Genetics

VOLUME=14

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/genetics/articles/10.3389/fgene.2023.1132606

DOI=10.3389/fgene.2023.1132606

ISSN=1664-8021

ABSTRACT=<p><italic>Meteorus</italic> Haliday, 1835 is a cosmopolitan genus within Braconidae (Hymenoptera). They are koinobiont endoparasitoids of Coleoptera or Lepidoptera larvae. Only one mitogenome of this genus was available. Here, we sequenced and annotated three mitogenomes of <italic>Meteorus</italic> species, and found that the tRNA gene rearrangements in these mitogenomes were rich and diverse. Compared with the ancestral organization, only seven tRNAs (<italic>trnW</italic>, <italic>trnY</italic>, <italic>trnL2</italic>, <italic>trnH</italic>, <italic>trnT</italic>, <italic>trnP</italic> and <italic>trnV</italic>) were conserved and <italic>trnG</italic> had its own unique location in the four mitogenomes. This dramatic tRNA rearrangement was not observed in mitogenomes of other insect groups before. In addition, the tRNA cluster (<italic>trnA</italic>-<italic>trnR</italic>-<italic>trnN</italic>-<italic>trnS1</italic>-<italic>trnE</italic>-<italic>trnF</italic>) between <italic>nad3</italic> and <italic>nad5</italic> was rearranged into two patterns, i.e., <italic>trnE</italic>-<italic>trnA</italic>-<italic>trnR</italic>-<italic>trnN</italic>-<italic>trnS1</italic> and <italic>trnA</italic>-<italic>trnR</italic>-<italic>trnS1</italic>-<italic>trnE</italic>-<italic>trnF</italic>-<italic>trnN</italic>. The phylogenetic results showed that the <italic>Meteorus</italic> species formed a clade within the subfamily Euphorinae, and were close to <italic>Zele</italic> (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Euphorinae). In the <italic>Meteorus</italic>, two clades were reconstructed: <italic>M</italic>. sp. USNM and <italic>Meteorus pulchricornis</italic> forming one clade while the remaining two species forming another clade. This phylogenetic relationship also matched the tRNA rearrangement patterns. The diverse and phylogenetic signal of tRNA rearrangements within one genus provided insights into tRNA rearrangements of the mitochondrial genome at genus/species levels in insects.</p>