Comparative Analysis of Eight Mitogenomes of Bark Beetles and Their Phylogenetic Implications

Abstract

Many bark beetles of the subfamily Scolytinae are the most economically important insect pests of coniferous forests worldwide. In this study, we sequenced the mitochondrial genomes of eight bark beetle species, including Dendroctonus micans, Orthotomicus erosus, Polygraphus poligraphus, Dryocoetes hectographus, Ips nitidus, Ips typographus, Ips subelongatus, and Ips hauseri, to examine their structural characteristics and determine their phylogenetic relationships. We also used previously published mitochondrial genome sequence data from other Scolytinae species to identify and localize the eight species studied within the bark beetle phylogeny. Their gene arrangement matched the presumed ancestral pattern of these bark beetles. Start and stop codon usage, amino acid abundance, and the relative codon usage frequencies were conserved among bark beetles. Genetic distances between species ranged from 0.037 to 0.418, and evolutionary rates of protein-coding genes ranged from 0.07 for COI to 0.69 for ND2. Our results shed light on the phylogenetic relationships and taxonomic status of several bark beetles in the subfamily Scolytinae and highlight the need for further sequencing analyses and taxonomic revisions in additional bark beetle species.