Synopsis
Animal mtDNA is commonly described as a small, circular molecule, remarkably uniform in size, gene content, and genomic organization. The results of recent studies contradict this view and reveal substantial diversity in animal mtDNA organization. As should be expected, most of this diversity is found in non-bilaterian animals: phyla Cnidaria, Ctenophora, Placozoa, and Porifera, each of which displays a unique mode and tempo of mitochondrial genome evolution. Mitochondrial DNA in the phylum Cnidaria is characterized by low rate of sequence evolution and loss of all but one or two tRNA genes. In addition, linear mitochondrial genome architecture has evolved within this phylum. In the phylum Ctenophora, mtDNA is characterized by small size, high rate of sequence evolution, and loss of at least 24 genes, including all tRNA genes and two protein-coding genes. In the phylum Placozoa, mtDNA is large in size and contains a substantial number of introns. It also displays such unusual...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Burger G, Yan Y, Javadi P, Lang BF (2009) Group I-intron trans-splicing and mRNA editing in the mitochondria of placozoan animals. Trends Genet 25:381–386
Clary DO, Wolstenholme DR (1985) The mitochondrial DNA molecule of Drosophila yakuba: nucleotide sequence, gene organization, and genetic code. J Mol Evol 22:252–271
Gazave E, Lapebie P, Renard E, Vacelet J, Rocher C, Ereskovsky AV, Lavrov DV, Borchiellini C (2010) Molecular phylogeny restores the supra-generic subdivision of homoscleromorph sponges (Porifera, Homoscleromorpha). PLoS ONE 5:e14290
Haen KM, Lang BF, Pomponi SA, Lavrov DV (2007) Glass sponges and bilaterian animals share derived mitochondrial genomic features: a common ancestry or parallel evolution? Mol Biol Evol 24:1518–1527
Haen KM, Pett W, Lavrov DV (2010) Parallel loss of nuclear-encoded mitochondrial aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases and mtDNA-encoded tRNAs in Cnidaria. Mol Biol Evol 27:2216–2219
Kayal E, Bentlage B, Collins AG, Kayal M, Pirro S, Lavrov DV (2011) Evolution of linear mitochondrial genomes in medusozoan cnidarians. Genome Biol Evol 4:1–12
Lavrov D, Pett W, Voigt O, Worheide G, Forget L, Lang B, Kayal E (2013) Mitochondrial DNA of Clathrina clathrus (Calcarea, Calcinea): Six Linear Chromosomes, Fragmented rRNAs, tRNA Editing, and a Novel Genetic Code. Mol. Biol. Evol. 30:865-880
Medina M, Collins AG, Takaoka TL, Kuehl JV, Boore JL (2006) Naked corals: skeleton loss in Scleractinia. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 103:9096–9100
Pett W, Ryan JF, Pang K, Mullikin JC, Martindale MQ, Baxevanis AD, Lavrov DV (2011) Extreme mitochondrial evolution in the ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi: insight from mtDNA and the nuclear genome. Mitochondrial DNA 22:130–142
Signorovitch AY, Buss LW, Dellaporta SL (2007) Comparative genomics of large mitochondria in placozoans. PLoS Genet 3:e13
Wang X, Lavrov D (2008) Seventeen new complete mtDNA sequences reveal extensive mitochondrial genome evolution within the Demospongiae. PLoS ONE. 3:e2723
Zouros E, Freeman KR, Ball AO, Pogson GH (1992) Direct evidence for extensive paternal mitochondrial DNA inheritance in the marine mussel Mytilus. Nature 359:412–414
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this entry
Cite this entry
Lavrov, D.V. (2014). Mitochondrial Genomes in Invertebrate Animals. In: Bell, E. (eds) Molecular Life Sciences. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6436-5_111-2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6436-5_111-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-6436-5
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Biomedicine and Life SciencesReference Module Biomedical and Life Sciences