Role of public DNA-Seq data in mitogenomics research: A case study on the flying fish family (Beloniformes: Exocoetidae).

Abstract

Flying fishes (Exocoetidae) are a highly specialized group of Beloniformes, with 4 subfamilies, 7 genera, and 78 species. However,only a small number of species of flying fishes have the mitochondrial genome described sof ar. Considering the importance of mitogenomes in evolution, in this study we aimed to expand the description of mitochondrial genomes and the phylogenetic relationships of Exocoetidae. We used publicly available DNA-Seq libraries to assemble the mitochondrial genomes of 7 species of flying fishes. The mitochondrial genomes of Exocoetidae showed conserved features among all species. With 22 tRNAs, 2 rRNAs, and 13 protein-coding genes, they share common features among vertebrates.Cheilopogon was reconstructedaspolyphyletic, with four clades, which reinforces previous studies that recovered Cheilopogon as non-monophyletic.Werecoveredallfour subfamilies as monophyletic,with Parexocoetinae as the sister group of all other subfamilies.The genetic distance between Exocoetidae species was two times smaller than the genetic distance among the Hyporhamphus species, indicating a low genetic divergence in the family. Hereby, this study expanded the knowledge of mitochondrial genome features and presented one of the most comprehensive mitochondrial genome datasets used for studying flying fishestodate. This was achievable using publicly available data, reinforcing the importanceof the re-use of such data in the fields of mitogenomics and phylogenetics.