A close phylogenetic relationship between Sipuncula and Annelida evidenced from the complete mitochondrial genome sequence of Phascolosoma esculenta.

ABSTRACT:

Background

There are many advantages to the application of complete mitochondrial (mt) genomes in the accurate reconstruction of phylogenetic relationships in Metazoa. Although over one thousand metazoan genomes have been sequenced, the taxonomic sampling is highly biased, left with many phyla without a single representative of complete mitochondrial genome. Sipuncula (peanut worms or star worms) is a small taxon of worm-like marine organisms with an uncertain phylogenetic position. In this report, we present the mitochondrial genome sequence of Phascolosoma esculenta, the first complete mitochondrial genome of the phylum.

Results

The mitochondrial genome of P.esculenta is 15,494 bp in length. The coding strand consists of 32.1% A, 21.5% C, 13.0% G, and 33.4% T bases (AT = 6

SUBMITTER: Shen X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2667193 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature