Complete mitochondrial genomes of three fairy shrimps from snowmelt pools in Japan

Fairy shrimps belong to order Anostraca, class Branchiopoda, subphylum Crustacea, and phylum Arthropoda. Three fairy shrimp species (Eubranchipus uchidai, E. asanumai, and E. hatanakai) that inhabit snowmelt pools are currently known in Japan. Whole mitochondrial genomes are useful genetic information for conducting phylogenetic analyses. Mitochondrial genome sequences for Branchiopoda members are gradually being collated.

Six whole mitochondrial genomes from the three Eubranchipus species are presented here. Eubranchipus species share the anostracan pattern of gene arrangement in their mitochondrial genomes. The mitochondrial genomes of the Eubranchipus species have a higher GC content than those of other anostracans. Accelerated substitution rates in the lineage of Eubranchipus species were observed.

This study is the first to obtain whole mitochondrial genomes for Far Eastern Eubranchipus species. We show that the nucleotide sequences of cytochrome oxidase subunit I and the 16S ribosomal RNA of E. asanumai presented in a previous study were nuclear mitochondrial DNA segments. Higher GC contents and accelerated substitution rates are specific characteristics of the mitochondrial genomes of Far Eastern Eubranchipus. The results will be useful for further investigations of the evolution of Anostraca as well as Branchiopoda.