Assembly and annotation of the first complete mitochondrial genome of Phenacoccus solenopsis Tinsley (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae)

Abstract

The cotton mealybug, Phenacoccus solenopsis Tinsley (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae), is a significant economic pest with a global distribution. Despite the increasing volume of literature on mitochondrial genome sequencing, complete mitochondrial genome sequences have not been reported for P. solenopsis yet. Here, we assembled the complete mitochondrial genome of P. solenopsis using high throughput DNA sequencing technology. The genome is 14,831 bp in length and is comprised of 37 genes: 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 transfer RNA (tRNA) genes, and two ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes. The total length of all PCGs is 9,678 bp, accounting for 65.2% of the overall mitogenome. Among the PCGs, atp8 is the smallest gene (99 bp) and nad5 is the largest (1,593 bp). Of the 13 PCGs, seven (nad3, cox3, atp6, atp8, cox2, cox1, nad2) are encoded on the majority strand (J-strand), while six (nad1, nad6, cob, nad4L, nad4, nad5) are on the minority strand (N-strand). The analysis revealed a predominant A+T base composition, making up 90.3% of the total genome. However, the non-coding regulatory control region (CR) is missing due to the non-overlapping endpoints of the linear assembly. This assembly provides comprehensive information for investigating the evolutionary relationships between scale insects and for the precise identification of insects.