Using mitogenomes to reveal phylogeny and evolution of scale worms

A paper I co-authored has been published in Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution! In this work led by Yanjie Zhang, we sequenced mitochondrial genomes from deep-sea scale worms (Annelida: Aphroditiformia) to study their phylogeny and evolution. Here’s a link that gives you free access to the full paper for the next 50 days: https://authors.elsevier.com/c/1Wt5g3m3nMqWNm

Highlights

  • We recovered 15 mitochondrial genomes and 16 18S and 28S genes from 16 scale worms
  • Eulepethidae and Aphroditidae are sister to the other families
  • Branchinotogluminae and Macellicephalinae are paraphyletic
  • Mitochondrial gene orders of deep-sea species have two novel arrangement patterns
  • Mitochondrial genomes of deep-sea species show relaxed purifying selection

 

Zhang Y, Sun J, Rouse GW, Wiklund H, Pleijel F, Watanabe HK, Chen C, Qian P-Y, Qiu J-W* (2018). Phylogeny, evolution and mitochondrial gene order rearrangement in scale worms (Aphroditiformia, Annelida): Insights from low-coverage genome sequencing. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 125: 220-231. DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2018.04.002