Two mitochondrial genomes from the families Bethylidae and Mutillidae: independent rearrangement of protein-coding genes and higher-level phylogeny of the Hymenoptera

Abstract

In animal mitochondrial genomes, gene arrangements are usually conserved across major lineages but might be rearranged within derived groups, and might provide valuable phylogenetic characters. Here, we sequenced the mitochondrial genomes of Cephalonomia gallicola (Chrysidoidea: Bethylidae) and Wallacidia oculata (Vespoidea: Mutillidae). In Cephalonomia at least 11 tRNA and 2 protein-coding genes were rearranged, which is the first report of protein-coding gene rearrangements in the Aculeata. In the Hymenoptera, three types of protein-coding gene rearrangement events occur, i.e. reversal, transposition and reverse transposition. Venturia (Ichneumonidae) had the greatest number of common intervals with the ancestral gene arrangement pattern, whereas Philotrypesis (Agaonidae) had the fewest. The most similar rearrangement patterns are shared between Nasonia (Pteromalidae) and Philotrypesis, whereas the most differentiated rearrangements occur between Cotesia (Braconidae) and Philotrypesis. It is clear that protein-coding gene rearrangements in the Hymenoptera are evolutionarily independent across the major lineages but are conserved within groups such as the Chalcidoidea. Phylogenetic analyses supported the sister-group relationship of Orrussoidea and Apocrita, Ichneumonoidea and Aculeata, Vespidae and Apoidea, and the paraphyly of Vespoidea. The Evaniomorpha and phylogenetic relationships within Aculeata remain controversial, with discrepancy between analyses using protein-coding and RNA genes.

Keywords: Hymenoptera; Mitochondrial genome; Phylogeny; Protein-coding gene rearrangement.