Characterization of the complete mitochondrial genome of Metastrongylus salmi (M. salmi) derived from Tibetan pigs in Tibet, China

Abstract

AbstractThe present study was designed to determine and analyze themtgenomes ofMetastrongylus salmi(M.salmi), and reveal the phylogenetic relationships of this parasite usingmtDNA sequences. Results showed that the completemtgenome ofM.salmiwas 13722 bp containing 12 protein-coding genes (cox1-3, nad1-6, nad4L, atp6 and cytb), 22 transfer RNA genes, and 2 ribosomal RNA genes (rrnL and rrnS). The overall A+T content was 73.54% and the nucleotide composition was A (23.52%), C (6.14%), G (19.60%), T (50.02%), and N (UCAG) (0.73%). A total of 4237 amino acids are encoded from the Tibetan isolates ofM. salmi mtgenomes. The ATA was predicted as the most common starting codon with 41.7% (5/12 protein genes); and 11 of the 12 protein genes were found to have a TAG or TAA translation termination codon. By clustering together the phylogenetic trees of TibetanM.salmiand AustrianM.salmi, theM.salmiisolated from Tibetan pigs was found to be highly homological with that stemmed from Austrian one. This information provides meaningful insights into the phylogenetic position of theM.salmiChina isolate and represents a useful resource for selecting molecular markers for diagnosis and population studies.