Complete mitochondrial genome and the phylogenetic position of the zebra shark (Stegostoma fasciatum)

Abstract

The complete mitochondrial genome of the zebra shark (Stegostoma fasciatum) was first determined in this study. The total length of this circle DNA was 16 658 bp, consisted of 37 genes with typical gene order in vertebrate mitogenome. Its nucleotide content was 34.1% A, 25.9% C, 12.5% G and 27.5% T. This mitogenome had 23 bp short intergenic spaces located in 10 gene junctions and 54 bp overlaps located in 11 gene junctions. In the protein-coding genes, two start codons (GTG and ATG) and two stop codons (TAG and TAA/T) were found. The 22 tRNA genes ranged from 66 bp (tRNA-Cys) to 75 bp (tRNA-Leu1). The phylogenetic result showed that S. fasciatum was clustered with the whale shark Rhincodon typus.