Novel gene rearrangements in mitochondrial genomes of four families of praying mantises (Insecta, Mantodea) and phylogenetic relationships of Mantodea.

The mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) plays an important role in phylogenetic studies of many species. The mitogenomes of many praying mantis groups have been well-studied, but mitogenomes of special mimic praying mantises, especially Acanthopoidea and Galinthiadoidea species, are still sorely lacking in the NCBI database. The present study analyzes five mitogenomes from four species of Acanthopoidea (Angela sp., Callibia diana, Coptopteryx sp., Raptrix fusca) and one of Galinthiadoidea (Galinthias amoena) that were sequenced by the primer-walking method. Among Angela sp. and Coptopteryx sp., three gene rearrangements were detected in ND3-A-R-N-S-E-F and COX1-L2-COX2 gene regions, two of which were novel. In addition, individual tandem repeats were found in control regions of four mitogenomes (Angela sp., C. diana, Coptopteryx sp., G. amoena). For those, plausible explanations were derived from the tandem duplication-random loss (TDRL) model and the slipped-strand mispairing model. One potential motif was found in Acanthopidae that was seen as a synapomorphy. Several conserved block sequences (CBSs) were detected within Acanthopoidea that paved the way for the design of specific primers. Via BI and ML analysis, based on four datasets (PCG12, PCG12R, PCG123, PCG123R), the merged phylogenetic tree within Mantodea was reconstructed. This showed that the monophyly of Acanthopoidea was supported and that the PCG12R dataset was the most suitable for reconstructing the phylogenetic tree within Mantodea.