Three mitochondrial genomes of Kibakoganea Nagai, 1984 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Rutelinae) and phylogenetic relationship of Rutelini

Abstract

The subfamily Rutelinae belongs to the family Scarabaeidae, which is famous for their colorful body and phytophagous habitat. So far, only nine complete mitochondrial genomes of Rutelinae have been sequenced. The Kibakoganea becomes concerning genus in Rutelini and with ornamental value in Rutelinae because of their enlarged and horn-like mandibles. Herein, the complete mitochondrial genomes of three species, K. tamdaoensi, K. fujiokai ushizanu, and K. vernicata, were sequenced and characterized using next-generation sequencing in this study, which also represents the first sequenced mitogenome in this genus. A comparative mt genomic analysis was conducted on the three sequenced species of Kibakoganea. The mt genome size of those three species ranged from 18,572 bp to 18,666 bp in length, including 37 genes (13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 transfer RNA (tRNA) genes, and two ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes) and the control region. The gene arrangements are highly consistent with other Coleoptera species. Most of the 13 PCGs used ATN as their start codons, except COX1 which used ACT. Except for tRNA-Ser (AGN), whose DHU arm simply formed a loop, the rest of the tRNA sequences could be folded into a typical cloverleaf secondary structure. The phylogenetic analyses using both Bayesian inference (BI) and maximum likelihood (ML) methods supported the monophyly of the genus Kibakoganea. Our results showed that among the Kibakoganea, K. vernicata and K. tamdaoensis had the closer relationship. This study contributes to increase our understanding of mitochondrial genomics and phylogenetic relationship of Rutelinae.