The complete mitochondrial genome of the Common Red Apollo, Parnassius epaphus (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae: Parnassiinae)

•The research presented firstly the complete mitochondrial genome of Parnassius epaphus.•Two tRNA-like sequences (tRNATrp-like, tRNALeu(UUR)-like) were detected in the AT-rich region of the mitochondrial genome.•The intergenic spacer between tRNAser(AGN) and tRNAGlu is 122 bp.•Two sequence stretches potential to form stem-loop structures detected in the AT-rich region.

The complete mitochondrial genome of Parnassius epaphus (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae: Parnassiinae) was 15, 458 bp in length, harboring typical 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 transfer RNA genes (tRNAs), two ribosomal RNA genes (rRNAs) and a non-coding control region (AT-rich region), with an 81.4% A + T content. The gene orientation and arrangement are the same as those of other sequenced lepidopterans. All PCGs start with the typical ATN codon, with the exception of the COI gene that utilizes CGA as its initial codon. In addition, all PCGs terminate at the common stop codon TAA or TAG, except for the COII gene which uses single T as its stop codon. All tRNAs possess the typical clover-leaf structure, except for tRNAser(AGN), in which the dihydrouridine (DHU) arm forms a simple loop. The predicted lrRNA and srRNA secondary structures harbor six domains with 49 helices and three domains with 33 helices, respectively. In total, P. epaphus mitogenome harbors 12 intergenic spacers. The 122 bp longest one located between tRNAser(AGN) and tRNAGlu is characterized by the multiple duplications of TTTTTCTTTTT and TTTATCTATTTCTTT motifs, and this sequence is the largest intergenic spacer among all butterflies detected to date. The 496 bp AT-rich region is located between srRNA and tRNAMet, containing some conserved structural characteristic of lepidopterans, such as the motif ATAGA followed by an 18-bp poly-T stretch, a microsatellite-like (AT)9 element preceded by the ATTTA motif. Moreover, two tRNA-like sequences (tRNATrp-like, tRNALeu(UUR)-like) and two sequence stretches potential to form stem-loop structures are also found in the AT-rich region.

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