The complete mitochondrial genome of the Kaloula verrucosa (Anura: Microhylidae) and phylogenetic analyses

Abstract

The first complete mitochondrial genome of a Kaloula verrucosa frog was characterized in this work. The mitogenome was 17,061 base pairs (bp) in length, containing 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 2 rRNA genes, 22 tRNA genes, and a control region (D-loop). The overall base composition was 29.65% A, 30.77% T, 25.41% C and 14.17% G. Besides, the gene arrangement was identical to that observed in vertebrates. Five of 13 PCGs (COII, ATP6, COIII, ND3 and ND4) were ended with incomplete stop codon T. Except for ND6 gene encoded on L-strand, all other PCGs were encoded on H-strand. The non-coding region was 1665 bp in size, which was heavily biased to A + T (65.77%). Additionally, we found mitogenome size of all sequenced Kaloula species were bigger than that of Microhyla species, which was ascribe to the difference of D-loop size. Phylogenetic analysis showed that K. verrucosa was the sister species of Kaloula regifera. This work will provide basic molecular data for further molecular evolution and phylogenetic research of K. verrucosa and other microhylids.

Keywords

• microhylidae
• kaloula verrucosa
• mitogenome
• china