The complete mitochondrial genome and phylogenetic analyses of Cathartes melambrotus (Wetmore 1964) (Aves: Cathartidae)

Abstract

Cathartes melambrotus is the largest member of the genus Cathartes, and soars over the forested areas of Amazonia in search of carrion. The complete mitochondrial genome of C. melambrotus was reported in this study. The 19,232 base pair genome consisted of 16 protein coding genes, 25 tRNAs, two rRNAs, and two control regions. The mitochondrial genome contained the avian ancestral duplicated gene region, with the same rearrangements previously reported in Accipitriformes, Cathartiformes, and Stigiformes. With the publishing of the C. melambrotus genome all seven Cathartiformes species mitochondrial genomes are available and can be included in subsequent phylogenetic and genomic analyses.

Keywords: Cathartes melambrotus; Cathartidae; mitogenome; scavenger.

Figure 1.

Species image of an adult C. melambrotus. The bird is characterized by dusky undersides of the inner primaries, that contrast pale secondaries and outer primaries. This is in contrast to the other species of Cathartes, in which all remiges are pale. The plumage is completely black, and darker than C. aura. Perched photograph by tony castro, used with creative commons license.

Figure 2.

The circular complete mitochondrial genome map of C. melambrotus. This map was created with the annotation software MitoZ, and displays mitochondrial genomic features and their strand placement in the assembly. In the outer circle coding genes are displayed in green, tRNAs in red, rRNAs in orange, with two control regions. Sequences displayed within the circle represent genomic features located on the heavy strand, where as genomic features displayed outside of the circle are located on the light strand. In total, 16 protein coding genes, 25 tRNAs, and two rRNAs were present. There are two copies of the control region, nad6, and tRNA-Thr, tRNA-Pro, and tRNA-Glu, indicative of the duplicated rearrangement of this region in this particular group of birds. The inner circle displays the depth of coverage for each position in them mitochondrial genome.

Figure 3.

Maximum-likelihood phylogenetic inference with the mitogenomes of all species of Cathartid vultures. The bootstrap support values are displayed on branches to show support from 1,000 bootstrap replicates. In addition to C. melambrotus (GenBank accession #PQ153910.1, highlighted in red), the following sequences were retrieved from GenBank and used: C. aura (Slack et al. , GenBank accession #AY463690.1), C. burrovianus (Urantówka et al. , GenBank accession #MN720441.1), Coragyps atratus (Urantówka et al. , GenBank accession #MN720440.1), Sarcoramphus papa (Urantówka et al. , GenBank accession #MN720442.1), Gymnogyps californianus (De Panis et al. , GenBank accession #BK059163.1), and Vultur gryphus (Urantówka et al. , GenBank accession #MN720444.1). We also used the complete mitochondrial genome of Sagittarius serpentarius (Mahmood et al. , GenBank accession #NC_023788.1) as an Accipitriformes bird of prey outgroup.