The complete mitogenome of the Atlantic longnose chimaera Rhinochimaera atlantica (Holt & Byrne, 1909)

TL;DR

This paper reports the first complete mitochondrial genome of the Atlantic longnose chimaera, providing a new genomic resource for holocephalan research.

Contribution

The study presents the first complete mitogenome of Rhinochimaera atlantica, a rhinochimaerid species.

Findings

The mitogenome of R. atlantica is 17,852 nucleotides long and includes 13 protein-coding genes, 22 tRNA genes, and two rRNA genes.

Nine genes are located on the complementary strand, with a GC content of 41.5% and an AT content of 58.5%.

Phylogenetic analysis confirms R. atlantica's placement within the Rhinochimaeridae family.

Abstract

Holocephali is a subclass of chondrichthyans with ample geographic distribution in marine ecosystems. Holocephalan species are organized into three families: Callorhinchidae, Chimaeridae, and Rhinochimaeridae. Despite the critical ecological and evolutionary importance, genomic information from holocephalans is still scarce, particularly from rhinochimaerids. The present study provides the first complete mitogenome of the Atlantic longnose chimaera Rhinochimaera atlantica (Holt & Byrne, 1909). The whole mitogenome was sequenced from an R. atlantica specimen, collected on the Porcupine Bank (NE Atlantic), by Illumina high-throughput sequencing. The R. atlantica mitogenome has 17,852 nucleotides with 13 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer RNA, and two ribosomal RNA genes. Nine of these genes are in the complementary strand. This mitogenome has a GC content of 41.5% and an AT content of 58.5%. The phylogenetic reconstruction provided here, using all the available complete and partial Holocephali mitogenomes, places R. atlantica in the Rhinochimaeridae family, as expected. This genomic resource will be useful in the genomic characterization of this species.

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