Novel gene arrangement in the mitochondrial genome of Aspersentis megarhynchus (Acanthocephala, Echinorhynchida, Heteracanthocephalidae), and its phylogenetic implications

The Heteracanthocephalidae Petrochenko, 1956 is a rare family of acanthocephalans mainly parasitic in fishes. The pattern of mitogenomic evolution of the Heteracanthocephalidae is still unknown, and the phylogenetic relationships of the Heteracanthocephalidae with the other 14 families within the order Echinorhynchida remain unclear. In the present study, the complete mitochondrial genome of Aspersentis megarhynchus (von Linstow, 1892) Golvan, 1960 was sequenced and annotated for the first time, which represents the first mitogenomic data for the genus Aspersentis and also for the family Heteracanthocephalidae. The mitogenome of A. megarhynchus has 14,661 bp and includes 36 genes, containing 12 protein-coding genes (PCGs) (missing atp8), 22 tRNA genes, and 2 ribosomal RNAs (rrnS and rrnL), plus two non-coding regions. Comparative mitochondrial genomic analysis revealed that the presence of translocations of several tRNA genes (trnV, trnE, and trnT) and the gene arrangement in the mitogenome of A. megarhynchus represents a new type in Acanthocephala. Moreover, the mitogenomic phylogenetic results based on concatenated amino acid sequences of 12 protein-coding genes strongly supported the validity of the Heteracanthocephalidae and suggested close affinity between the Heteracanthocephalidae and Echinorhynchidae in the order Echinorhynchida.