Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2026
DOI
10.1002/ece3.73585
Publication Title
Ecology and Evolution
Volume
16
Issue
6
Pages
e73585
Abstract
Leptoseris columna, a mesophotic coral species belonging to the family Agariciidae, is distributed throughout the Indo-Pacific region. This species is considered as of "Least concern" by the IUCN, yet, faces multiple local and global stressors. To support conservation plans, this study sequenced and characterized the complete mitochondrial genome of L. columna. The complete mitochondrial genome of Leptoseris columna was assembled using PacBio long-reads with a coverage of 459× per bp. The AT-rich mitochondrial genome of Leptoseris columna is 18,546 bp long and comprises 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 2 transfer RNA genes (trnM and trnW), and 2 ribosomal RNA genes, all located on the heavy strand. The nad5 gene contains a long (11,235 bp) Group I intron. In the mitochondrial PCGs, TTT (Phe), TTA (Leu) and GTT (Val) codons were most abundant and a preference for synonymous codons ending in A or T, contributes to the AT-rich nature of the studied mitogenome. The two tRNAs exhibited typical cloverleaf secondary structures. The assembled mitogenome also comprised two relatively long non-coding regions (1031 and 591 bp) with numerous microsatellites and short tandem repeats. A Maximum Likelihood (ML) phylomitogenomic analysis based on 13 protein-coding genes confirmed the monophyletic status of the order Scleractinia and family Agariciidae. However, the genus Leptoseris is polyphyletic. Other than supporting conservation plans, the newly assembled complete mitochondrial genome of Leptoseris columna will contribute to the advancing of our understanding of mesophotic coral systematics.
Rights
© 2026 The Authors.
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Data Availability
Article states: "The mitochondrial genome described here is accessible in GenBank with accession number PX841739."
Original Publication Citation
Adhikary, N. R., Barshis, D. J., & Baeza, J. A. (2026). Mitochondrial genome of the indo-pacific mesophotic coral Leptoseris columna (Scleractinia: Agariciidae) assembled using pacbio long-read sequencing. Ecology and Evolution, 16(6), Article e73585. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.73585
Repository Citation
Adhikary, Nomita Rani; Barshis, Daniel J.; and Baeza, J. Antonio, "Mitochondrial Genome of the Indo-Pacific Mesophotic Coral Leptoseris columna (Scleractinia: Agariciidae) Assembled Using Pacbio Long-Read Sequencing" (2026). Biological Sciences Faculty Publications. 702.
https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/biology_fac_pubs/702
ORCID
0000-0003-1510-8375 (Barshis)
Supporting Information
Included in
Aquaculture and Fisheries Commons, Biology Commons, Genetics and Genomics Commons, Natural Resources and Conservation Commons