The mitochondrial genome of Pseudocalotes microlepis (Squamata: Agamidae) and its phylogenetic position in Agamids

Abstract

We describe the complete mitochondrial genome of a small-scaled forest agamid (Pseudocalotes microlepis), which is 17 873 bp in size, containing 13 PCGs, 2 rRNAs, 22 tRNAs and non-coding regions. The mitogenome has a typical gene order among squamates. 13 PCGs include 2 start codons (ATG and ATA), 3 stop codons (TAG, TAA and AGG), and an incomplete stop codon (T-). Codon usage analyses showed that CUA-Leu1 and CGG-Arg are the most frequently and rarely used codon, respectively. All 22 tRNAs were predicted to form canonical cloverleaf secondary structures, except for two tRNAs (tRNACysand tRNASer (AGY)) lacking the dihydorouridine (DHU) arm. The large noncoding region (control region) is 2 687 bp long (28.3% T, 18.2% C, 42.3% A, and 11.2% G), with four different types of repeating sequences. The phylogenetic tree resulting from BEAST analyses based on concatenated 2 rRNAs and 13 PCGs in sequence revealed that the newly sequenced P. microlepis, where the genus Acanthosaura were aggregated. Together with Calotes versicolor, they constitute the subfamily Draconinae.