The complete mitochondrial genome sequence of Alopex lagopus (Caniformia: Canidae)

The phylogenetic and taxonomic positions of the blue fox (Alopex lagopus) have long been unclear. In this study, we determined and described the complete mitogenome sequence of A. lagopus for the first time, which is 16,629 bp in length and contains 37 genes, including 13 protein-coding genes, 2 rRNAs, 22 tRNAs, 1 origin of replication on the light-strand and a putative control region. The overall base composition is A: 31.3%, T: 27.8%, C: 26.1% and G: 14.8%, with a slight AT bias (59.1%). Most of them have TAA as the stop codon, except ND2 uses TAG, ND4 uses AGG, Cytb uses AGA and COX3 and ND3 use an incomplete stop codon TA. This information could not only contribute to provide useful molecular data for the species identification, but also to further taxonomic and phylogenetic studies of Alopex and Canidae.