The mitochondrial genome of the Russian wheat aphid Diuraphis noxia: Large repetitive sequences between trnE and trnF in aphids

• The mitochondrial genome of D. noxia had a high A + T content and strong C skew.
• A 195-bp sequence located between trnE and trnF tandemly repeated 3.3 times.
• The control region had two58-bp tandem repeats followed by a partial repeat unit.
• Aphid mitogenomes revealed distinct mitogenome architectures and evolution trends.

To characterize aphid mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) features, we sequenced the complete mitogenome of the Russian wheat aphid, Diuraphis noxia. The 15,784-bp mitogenome with a high A + T content (84.76%) and strong C skew (− 0.26) was arranged in the same gene order as that of the ancestral insect. Unlike typical insect mitogenomes, D. noxia possessed a large tandem repeat region (644 bp) located between trnE and trnF. Sequencing partial mitogenome of the cotton aphid (Aphis gossypii) further confirmed the presence of the large repeat region in aphids, but with different repeat length and copy number. Another motif (58 bp) tandemly repeated 2.3 times in the control region of D. noxia. All repeat units in D. noxia could be folded into stem-loop secondary structures, which could further promote an increase in copy numbers. Characterization of the D. noxia mitogenome revealed distinct mitogenome architectures, thus advancing our understanding of insect mitogenomic diversities and evolution.