The complete mitochondrial genome of western Mediterranean mouse, Mus spretus (Rodentia: Muridae)

The western Mediterranean mouse (Mus spretus) is a wide-spread and well-studied small mammal species in Europe. In this study, we report the complete mitochondrial genome sequence of this species for the first time. Data analysis shows that this mitogenome is entirely 16,286 bp in length and has a conservative genomic organization and gene order as most other mice. The overall nucleotide base composition is 34.1% of A, 28.6% of T, 24.6% C, and 12.7% G, with a strong A + T bias of 62.7%. All the genes are encoded on H-strand, except for the ND6 subunit gene and 8 tRNA genes, which are distributed on the L-strand. Totally 13 protein-coding genes initiate with ATN/GTG start codon and terminate with the typical stop codon (TAA/TAG) or a single T (T- -). Most of the transfer RNA genes could fold into the typical cloverleaf structure except for tRNA(Leu) and tRNA(Ser), whose dihydrouridine (DHU) arm are lost. The complete mitochondrial genome sequence reported here will be useful for population genetic and phylogenetic studies in mice.