Small inverted repeats drive mitochondrial genome evolution in Lake Baikal sponges

Demosponges, the largest and most diverse class in the phylum Porifera, possess mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) markedly different from that in other animals. Although several studies investigated evolution of demosponge mtDNA among major lineages of the group, the changes within these groups remain largely unexplored. Recently we determined mitochondrial genomic sequence of the Lake Baikal sponge Lubomirskia baicalensis and described proliferation of small inverted repeats (hairpins) that occurred in it since the divergence between L. baicalensis and the most closely related cosmopolitan freshwater sponge Ephydatia muelleri. Here we report mitochondrial genomes of three additional species of Lake Baikal sponges: Swartschewskia papyracea, Rezinkovia echinata and Baikalospongia intermedia morpha profundalis (Demospongiae, Haplosclerida, Lubomirskiidae) and from a more distantly related freshwater sponge Corvomeyenia sp. (Demospongiae, Haplosclerida, Metaniidae). We use these additional sequences to explore mtDNA evolution in Baikalian sponges, paying particular attention to the variation in the rates of nucleotide substitutions and the distribution of hairpins, abundant in these genomes. We show that most of the changes in Lubomirskiidae mitochondrial genomes are due to insertion/deletion/duplication of these elements rather than single nucleotide substitutions. Thus inverted repeats can act as an important force in evolution of mitochondrial genome architecture and be a valuable marker for population- and species-level studies in this group. In addition, we infer (((Rezinkovia + Lubomirskia) + Swartschewskia) + Baikalospongia) phylogeny for the family Lubomirskiidae based on the analysis of mitochondrial coding sequences from freshwater sponges.

► We report mtDNA sequences of four species of freshwater sponges.
► Sampled species included three endemic sponges from Lake Baikal.
► Baikalian mitochondrial genomes contain multiple small inverted repeats.
► Few substitutions in mitochondrial coding sequences among Lake Baikal sponges.
► Most of the genome diversity is driven by evolution of inverted repeats.