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Comparative mitogenomic analysis of three species of periwinkles: Littorina fabalis, L. obtusata and L. saxatilis
Marques, J.P.; Sotelo, G.; Larsson, T.; Johannesson, K.; Panova, M.; Faria, R. (2017). Comparative mitogenomic analysis of three species of periwinkles: Littorina fabalis, L. obtusata and L. saxatilis. Marine Genomics 32: 41-47. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.margen.2016.10.006
In: Marine Genomics. Elsevier: Amsterdam. ISSN 1874-7787; e-ISSN 1876-7478, more
Peer reviewed article  

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Keywords
    Exploitable Scientific Result
    Marine Sciences
    Marine Sciences > Marine Genomics
    Scientific Community
    Scientific Publication
    Marine/Coastal
Author keywords
    annotation; assembly; Gastropoda; mtDNA divergence; selection

Project Top | Authors 
  • Association of European marine biological laboratories, more

Authors  Top 
  • Marques, J.P.
  • Sotelo, G.
  • Larsson, T.
  • Johannesson, K.
  • Panova, M.
  • Faria, R.

Abstract
    The flat periwinkles, Littorina fabalis and L. obtusata, offer an interesting system for local adaptation and ecological speciation studies. In order to provide genomic resources for these species, we sequenced their mitogenomes together with that of the rough periwinkle L. saxatilis by means of next-generation sequencing technologies. The three mitogenomes present the typical repertoire of 13 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer RNA genes, two ribosomal RNA genes and a putative control region. Although the latter could not be fully recovered in flat periwinkles using short-reads due to a highly repetitive fragment, in L. saxatilis this problem was overcome with additional long-reads and we were able to assemble the complete mitogenome. Both gene order and nucleotide composition are similar between the three species as well as compared to other Littorinimorpha. A large variance in divergence was observed across mitochondrial regions, with six- to ten-fold difference between the highest and the lowest divergence rates. Based on nucleotide changes on the whole molecule and assuming a molecular clock, L. fabalis and L. obtusata started to diverge around 0.8 Mya (0.4–1.1 Mya). The evolution of the mitochondrial protein-coding genes in the three Littorina species appears mainly influenced by purifying selection as revealed by phylogenetic tests based on dN/dS ratios that did not detect any evidence for positive selection, although some caution is required given the limited power of the dataset and the implemented approaches.

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