The Evolution of Mitochondrial Genomes between Two Sister Species: Dozens of Circular Chromosomes and the Maintenance and Deterioration of Genome Synteny.

Plant mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) exhibit fluid genome architectures, which could lead to the rapid erosion of genome synteny over a short evolutionary time scale. Among the species-rich orchid family, the leafy and leafless are sister species with remarkable differences in morphology and nutritional physiology. Although our understanding of the evolution of mitochondria is incomplete, these sister taxa are ideal for examining this subject. In this study, the complete mitogenomes of and , totaling 704,244 bp and 650,751 bp, respectively, were assembled. In the 2 mitogenomes, 38 protein-coding genes, 18 - and 6 -spliced introns, and approximately 611 Kb of homologous sequences are identical; overall, they have 99.4% genome-wide similarity. Slight variations in the mitogenomes of and in repeat content (21.0 Kb and 21.6 Kb, respectively) and mitochondrial DNA of plastid origin (MIPT; 38.2 Kb and 37.5 Kb, respectively) were observed. The mitogenome architectures of and are complex and comprise 23 and 22 mini-circular chromosomes, respectively. Pairwise comparisons indicate that the two mitogenomes are largely syntenic, and the disparity in chromosome numbers is likely due to repeat-mediated rearrangements among different chromosomes. Notably, approximately 93.2 Kb mitochondrial sequences lack any homology in the mitogenome, indicating frequent DNA gains and losses, which accounts mainly for the size variation. Our findings provide unique insights into mitogenome evolution in leafy and leafless plants of sister species and shed light on mitogenome dynamics during the transition from mixotrophy to mycoheterotrophy.