Organization of the mitochondrial genome of a deep-sea fish, Gonostoma gracile (Teleostei : Stomiiformes): First example of transfer RNA gene rearrangements in bony fishes
M. Miya et M. Nishida, Organization of the mitochondrial genome of a deep-sea fish, Gonostoma gracile (Teleostei : Stomiiformes): First example of transfer RNA gene rearrangements in bony fishes, MAR BIOTEC, 1(5), 1999, pp. 416-426
We determined the complete nucleotide sequence of the mitochondrial genome
(except for a portion of the putative control region) for a deep-sea fish.
Gonostoma gracile. The entire mitochondrial genome was purified by gene amp
lification using long polymerase chain reaction (long PCR), and the product
s were subsequently used as templates for PCR with 30 sets of newly designe
d, fish-universal primers that amplify contiguous, overlapping segments of
the entire genome. Direct sequencing of the PCR products showed that the ge
nome contained the same 37 mitochondrial structural genes as found in other
vertebrates (two ribosomal RNA, 22 transfer RNA, and 13 protein-coding gen
es), with the order of all rRNA and protein-coding genes, and 19 tRNA genes
being identical to that in typical vertebrates. The gene order of the thre
e tRNAs (tRNA(Glu), tRNA(Thr), and tRNA(Pro)) relative to cytochrome b, how
ever, differed from that determined in other vertebrates. Two steps of tand
em duplication of gene regions, each followed by deletions of genes, can be
invoked as mechanisms generating such rearrangements of tRNAs. This is the
first example of tRNA gene rearrangements in a bony fish mitochondrial gen
ome.