Article
Extended Data Fig. 4 | The mitochondrial genome of the tuatara. In the Lady
Alice Island reference tuatara, this molecule is 18,078 bp, containing 13
protein-coding, 2 rRNA and 22 tRNA genes, standard among animals and
contradicting previous reports that 3 genes (ND5, tRNAThr and tRNAHis) were
absent. Three non-coding areas with control region (heavy-strand replication
origin) features (NC1, NC2 and NC3), and two copies of tRNALeu(CUN) adjacent to
NC1 and NC2 possess identical or near-identical sequence, possibly as a result
of concerted evolution. A stem-and-loop structure is observed in the region
encoding tRNAAsn and tRNACys, which may supplement for the origin of
light-strand replication (OL) normally found in this location. The tRNALy s gene is
duplicated with the first copy, possibly a pseudo-gene. The tRNACys gene
encodes a tRNA with a D-arm replacement loop. The gene and structure order
is: tRNAPhe, 12S rRNA, tRNAVal, 16S rRNA, tRNALeu(UUR), ND1, tRNAIle, tRNAGln,
tRNAMet, ND2, tRNATr p, tRNAAla, tRNAAsn, OL-like structure, tRNACys, tRNATy r, COI,
tRNASer(UCN), tRNAAsp, COII, pseudo-tRNALy s, tRNALy s, AT P 8, AT P 6, COIII, tRNAGly,
ND3, tRNAArg, ND4L, ND4, ND6, tRNAGlu, NC1, tRNALeu(CUN) copy one, ND5, tRNAThr,
tRNAHis, NC2, tRNALeu(CUN) copy two, CYTB, tRNAPro, tRNASer(AGY) and NC3.