The complete mitochondrial genome sequence and phylogenetic analysis of yellow weasel (Mustela sibirica)

Abstract In this study, we determined the complete mitochondrial genome sequence of the Mustela sibirica. The complete mitogenome of M. sibirica is 16,529 bp in length and consist of 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 2 rRNA genes, 22 tRNA genes, and a D-loop region. The overall base composition of the mitochondrial DNA is 32.88%A, 13.84%G, 27.32%T, and 25.96%C. The phylogenetic tree of the family Mustelidae constructed by using mitogenome sequences from 10 mustelid species of the family Mustelidae. These results provide necessary information for molecular phylogeny and evolutionary analysis of the M. sibirica.


Mustela sibirica; mitochondrial genome; phylogenetic analysis
Yellow weasel (Mustela sibirica) belongs to Carnivora, mustelidae. It is widely distributed in Siberia of Russia and China (IUCN 2016;Min 2018). Some weasels (Neovison vison, Martes zibellina, M. sibirica, etc.), are economic animal due to the value of the fur (Xu et al. 2010). In recent years, the aquaculture of the weasel is rising with the development of fur economic in China (Jian et al. 2012). In this study, we determined and analysed the complete mitochondrial genome of M. sibirica. This information will contribute to future phylogenetic studies of this species.
The specimen was collected from Ya'an (120 59 0 E, 29 58 0 N) and stored in Zoology laboratory of Sichuan Agricultural University, NO. 000756. The genomic DNA of M. sibirica was isolated from muscle tissue by using the TIANamp Genomic DNA extraction Kit. A previously published mitogenome of M. sibirica (HM106317) which downloaded from the National Centre for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) was used as a reference for gene annotation and primer design. The complete mitogenome sequence of M. sibirica which we determined was deposited in GenBank (No. MN264435).
The complete mitogenome of M. sibirica contains total 16,529 bp long, which consists of 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), two rRNA genes (12S rRNA and 16S rRNA), 22 tRNA genes, and one D-loop region the same order as seen for other mammalian genes (Chun et al. 2010;Sang et al. 2017). Most PCGs are distributed on the H-strand, except for ND6 and eight tRNA genes which are encoded on the L-strand.
The sequence is apparently AT biased (AT ¼ 61.87%) with an overall base composition was 33.37% A, 28.50% T, 24.68% C, and 13.45% G. The longest PCG was the ND5 (1830 bp), whereas the shortest PCG was the ATP8 (204 bp). Ten PCGs use ATG as start codon, except for ND3 and ND5 initiate with ATA and ND2 begin with ATT. Of the 13 PCGs, the incomplete stop codons (T-or TA-) are used for termination of ND2, COX3, and ND4 (T-), ND1 and ND3 (TA-), respectively. AGA are used as stop codons in Cytb, and the other seven genes end with TAA. 12S rRNA and 16S rRNA are 959 and 1569 bp, respectively. These are located between tRNA Phe and tRNA Leu genes and are separated by the tRNA Val gene. The 22 tRNA genes range in length from 62 (tRNA Ser ) to 75 bp (tRNA Leu ), tRNA Ser has lost the stem of dihydrouridine (DHU) arm. The mitochondrial control region is 1121 bp long and is laid between the tRNA Pro and tRNA Phe genes.
The phylogenetic tree of the family Mustelidae constructed using the maximum-likelihood (ML) procedures implemented in MEGA version X (Kumar et al. 2018). To further explore, the taxonomic status of the M. sibirica and its phylogenetic relationship within the family Mustelidae, a phylogenetic tree constructed using mitogenome sequences from 10 mustelid species of 3 genera (Figure 1). According to the phylogenetic tree, M. sibirica clustered into a clade with M. nigripes and M. putorius and all the members of the genus Mustela form a monophyletic group. In all, this genome will provide a molecular basis for the conservation and research of M. sibirica.