Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The complete mitochondrial genomes of two globally invasive ants, the Argentine ant Linepithema humile and the little fire ant Wasmannia auropunctata

  • Technical Note
  • Published:
Conservation Genetics Resources Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Ants are among the most widespread and damaging of invasive alien species. Here, we report the complete mitochondrial genomes for two globally invasive ants: the Argentine ant Linepithema humile and the little fire ant Wasmannia auropunctata. The circular genomes of L. humile and W. auropunctata are 15,929 and 16,362 bp in length, respectively, and encode the same typical set of 37 mitochondrial genes (i.e. 13 PCGs, 22 tRNAs and two rRNAs) and one control region. The mitochondrial genome of W. auropunctata harbors a unique gene arrangement (‘rrnS-trnV-CR-trnM-trnI-trnQ-nad2-trnW-trnC-trnY’; the underlines indicate inverted genes) between rrnL and cox1. Phylogenetic analysis largely corroborated the traditional taxonomy, except for L. humile which was found to be more related to those taxa of the subfamilies Formicinae and Myrmicinae than to the consubfamilial Leptomyrmex pallens. Our genomic data can be readily used for genetic assays of these two globally invasive ants.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

References

  • Babbucci M, Basso A, Scupola A, Patarnello T, Negrisolo E (2014) Is it an ant or a butterfly? Convergent evolution in the mitochondrial gene order of Hymenoptera and Lepidoptera. Genome Biol Evol 6:3326–3343. doi:10.1093/gbe/evu265

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Berman M, Austin CM, Miller AD (2014) Characterisation of the complete mitochondrial genome and 13 microsatellite loci through next-generation sequencing for the New Caledonian spider-ant Leptomyrmex pallens. Mol Biol Rep 41:1179–1187. doi:10.1007/s11033-013-2657-5

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bernt M, Donath A, Jühling F, Externbrink F, Florentz C, Fritzsch G, Pütz J, Middendorf M, Stadler PF (2013) MITOS: improved de novo metazoan mitochondrial genome annotation. Mol Phylogenet Evol 69:313–319. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2012.08.023

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bertelsmeier C, Luque GM, Hoffmann BD, Courchamp F (2014) Worldwide ant invasions under climate change. Biodivers Conserv 24:117–128. doi:10.1007/s10531-014-0794-3

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bolger AM, Lohse M, Usadel B (2014) Trimmomatic: a flexible trimmer for Illumina sequence data. Bioinformatics 30:2114–2120. doi:10.1093/bioinformatics/btu170

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Gotzek D, Clarke J, Shoemaker D (2010) Mitochondrial genome evolution in fire ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). BMC Evol Biol 10:300. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-10-300

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Gotzek D, Axen HJ, Suarez AV, Cahan SH, Shoemaker D (2015) Global invasion history of the tropical fire ant: a stowaway on the first global trade routes. Mol Ecol 24:374–388. doi:10.1111/mec.13040

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hasegawa E, Kobayashi K, Yagi N, Tsuji K (2011) Complete mitochondrial genomes of normal and cheater morphs in the parthenogenetic ant Pristomyrmex punctatus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Myrmecol News 15:85–90

    Google Scholar 

  • Hunter SS, Lyon RT, Sarver BAJ, Hardwick K, Forney LJ, Settles ML (2015) Assembly by reduced complexity (ARC): a hybrid approach for targeted assembly of homologous sequences. bioRxiv. doi:10.1101/014662

    Google Scholar 

  • Kim MJ, Hong EJ, Kim I (2016) Complete mitochondrial genome of Camponotus atrox (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): a new tRNA arrangement in Hymenoptera. Genome 59:59–74. doi:10.1139/gen-2015-0080

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Liu N, Duan X-Y, Qian Z-Q, Wang X-Y, Li X-L, Ding M-Y (2016) Characterization of the complete mitochondrial genome of the myrmicine ant Vollenhovia emeryi (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Conserv Genet Resour. doi:10.1007/s12686-016-0535-x

    Google Scholar 

  • Lowe S, Browne M, Boudjelas S, De Poorter M (2000) 100 of the world’s worst invasive alien species: a selection from the global invasive species database. Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG), Auckland

    Google Scholar 

  • Rodovalho CdM, Lyra ML, Ferro M, Bacci M Jr (2014) The mitochondrial genome of the leaf-cutter ant Atta laevigata: a mitogenome with a large number of intergenic spacers. PLoS One 9:e97117. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0097117

    Article  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Ross KG, Shoemaker DD (2008) Estimation of the number of founders of an invasive pest insect population: the fire ant Solenopsis invicta in the USA. Proc R Soc B 275:2231–2240. doi:10.1098/rspb.2008.0412

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Simberloff D, Martin J-L, Genovesi P, Maris V, Wardle DA, Aronson J, Courchamp F, Galil B, García-Berthou E, Pascal M, Pyšek P, Sousa R, Tabacchi E, Vilà M (2013) Impacts of biological invasions: what’s what and the way forward. Trends Ecol Evol 28:58–66. doi:10.1016/j.tree.2012.07.013

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Smith MA, Fisher B (2009) Invasions, DNA barcodes, and rapid biodiversity assessment using ants of Mauritius. Front Zool 6:31. doi:10.1186/1742-9994-6-31

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Suarez AV, McGlynn TP, Tsutsui ND (2010) Biogeographic and taxonomic patterns of introduced ants. In: Lach L, Parr CL, Abbot KL (eds) Ant ecology. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 233–244

    Google Scholar 

  • Tamura K, Stecher G, Peterson D, Filipski A, Kumar S (2013) MEGA6: molecular evolutionary genetics analysis version 6.0. Mol Biol Evol 30:2725–2729. doi:10.1093/molbev/mst197

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Yang S, Li X, Cai L-G, Qian Z-Q (2016) Characterization of the complete mitochondrial genome of Formica selysi (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Formicinae). Mitochondr DNA 27:3378–3380. doi:10.3109/19401736.2015.1018229

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This study was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31300308), the Natural Science Basic Research Plan in Shaanxi Province of China (2013JQ3007) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities in China (GK201503049).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Life Sciences, Shaanxi Normal University, 620 Western Chang’an Street, Xi’an, 710119, Shaanxi, People’s Republic of China

    Xiao-Yu Duan, Xiao-Yi Peng & Zeng-Qiang Qian

Authors
  1. Xiao-Yu Duan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Xiao-Yi Peng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Zeng-Qiang Qian
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zeng-Qiang Qian.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (PDF 1738 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Duan, XY., Peng, XY. & Qian, ZQ. The complete mitochondrial genomes of two globally invasive ants, the Argentine ant Linepithema humile and the little fire ant Wasmannia auropunctata . Conservation Genet Resour 8, 275–277 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12686-016-0555-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12686-016-0555-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation