Mitochondrial genome evolution in the Saccharomyces sensu stricto complex

PLoS One. 2017 Aug 16;12(8):e0183035. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0183035. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

Exploring the evolutionary patterns of mitochondrial genomes is important for our understanding of the Saccharomyces sensu stricto (SSS) group, which is a model system for genomic evolution and ecological analysis. In this study, we first obtained the complete mitochondrial sequences of two important species, Saccharomyces mikatae and Saccharomyces kudriavzevii. We then compared the mitochondrial genomes in the SSS group with those of close relatives, and found that the non-coding regions evolved rapidly, including dramatic expansion of intergenic regions, fast evolution of introns and almost 20-fold higher rearrangement rates than those of the nuclear genomes. However, the coding regions, and especially the protein-coding genes, are more conserved than those in the nuclear genomes of the SSS group. The different evolutionary patterns of coding and non-coding regions in the mitochondrial and nuclear genomes may be related to the origin of the aerobic fermentation lifestyle in this group. Our analysis thus provides novel insights into the evolution of mitochondrial genomes.

MeSH terms

  • Computational Biology / methods
  • DNA, Intergenic
  • Evolution, Molecular*
  • Gene Order
  • Genes, Mitochondrial
  • Genome, Mitochondrial*
  • Genomics / methods
  • Introns
  • Molecular Sequence Annotation
  • Open Reading Frames
  • Phylogeny
  • Saccharomyces / classification
  • Saccharomyces / genetics*

Substances

  • DNA, Intergenic

Grants and funding

This work was supported by a project from National Science Foundation of China (31501023) to J.C. and (31300077) to H.J. and The Hundred Talent Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to H.J.