Mitogenome features and phylogenetic analysis of red algae, (Rhodophyta, Halymeniales).

The mitogenome is an important tool for taxonomic and evolutionary investigation. Here, a few complete mitogenomes of red algae have been reported. We have reported the complete mitogenome sequences of Okamura, 1913 (Rhodophyta, Halymeniales). The genome is 30,595 bp in circumference, and has a strongly biased [AT] = 66.9%. Like most other species, it has a group II intron in the cox1 gene. Maximum likelihood and maximum parsimony analyses showed that is more closely related to . This shows that the group II intron in the cox1 ORF present in most species of was present in their common ancestor, and uniquely lost in . The seven Grateloupia species with known mitogenome sequences remain monophyletic, with the genus as sister taxon. The complete mitochondrial genome data will be valuable for future research on comparative mitochondrial genome analysis, an extensive understanding of gene content and organization, evolution of the intron in Rhodophyta as well as phylogenetic analysis.