Complete mitochondrial genome of dotted grouper Epinephelus epistictus (Serranidae: Epinephelinae).

The complete mitochondrial genome of Epinephelus epistictus was first presented in this study. It was 16,920 bp in length, consisted of 13 protein-coding genes, 22 tRNA genes, 2 rRNA genes and 1 putative control region (D-loop). Overall nucleotide base composition was 28.78% A, 28.5% C, 16.12% G and 26.6% T. The COI gene started with GTG codon and the ATP6 gene started with CTG codon. The tRNA-Ser2 lacked the dihydrouridine (DHU) arm and formed one loop. The origin of L-strand replication (OL) was identified between tRNA-Asn and tRNA-Cys genes. The control region was rich in A + T (69.93%) and poor in G (12.80%). Two tandem repeat motifs were found in the control region with one nucleotide different.