Comparative mitogenomes reveal diverse and novel gene rearrangements in the genus Meteorus (Hymenoptera: Braconidae)

Haliday, 1835 is a cosmopolitan genus within Braconidae (Hymenoptera). They are koinobiont endoparasitoids of Coleoptera or Lepidoptera larvae. Only one mitogenome of this genus was available. Here, we sequenced and annotated three mitogenomes of species, and found that the tRNA gene rearrangements in these mitogenomes were rich and diverse. Compared with the ancestral organization, only seven tRNAs ( , , , , , and ) were conserved and had its own unique location in the four mitogenomes. This dramatic tRNA rearrangement was not observed in mitogenomes of other insect groups before. In addition, the tRNA cluster ( - - - - - ) between and was rearranged into two patterns, i.e., - - - - and - - - - - . The phylogenetic results showed that the species formed a clade within the subfamily Euphorinae, and were close to (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Euphorinae). In the , two clades were reconstructed: . sp. USNM and forming one clade while the remaining two species forming another clade. This phylogenetic relationship also matched the tRNA rearrangement patterns. The diverse and phylogenetic signal of tRNA rearrangements within one genus provided insights into tRNA rearrangements of the mitochondrial genome at genus/species levels in insects.