| Beetles (Order Coleoptera) are the most diverse of the insects, but no complete beetle mitochondrial genomes had been sequenced when this study was initiated. The mitochondrial genome of a spotted asparagus beetle, Crioceris duodecimpunctata (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Criocerinae) was amplified in overlapping fragments using polymerase chain reaction, and sequenced. The compiled DNA sequence revealed a circular genome 15 880 basepairs in length. Two ribosomal RNA genes, 13 protein coding genes and 22 transfer RNA (tRNA) genes were identified. This constitutes the typical gene complement of metazoan mitochondrial DNA. The observed gene arrangement is believed to be ancestral to the insect lineage, having been observed in most insects, in the crustacean Daphnia, the prawn Penaeus, and in the horseshoe crab Limulus. Adenine and thymine represent 76.9% of all nucleotides present in the DNA sequence, a bias shared among other insect mitochondrial genomes. (Abstract shortened by UMI.). |
