Complete mitochondrial genome and evolutionary analysis of Turritopsis dohrnii, the "immortal" jellyfish with a reversible life-cycle-Lizendova-2017

Turritopsis dohrnii (Cnidaria, Hydrozoa, Hydroidolina, Anthoathecata) is the only known metazoan that can reverse its life cycle via morph rejuvenation. We offer the full mitochondrial genome sequence of T. dohrnii, which contains genes for 13 proteins, two transfer RNAs, and two ribosomal RNAs. The T. dohrnii mt genome has a high A+T content (71.5%), inverted transcriptional orientation for the major rRNA subunit gene, and few CGN codons. Variable repeat regions bordering the T. dohrnii mt chromosome contain an imperfect complementary copy of the cox1 gene. We found species-specific changes (nad5, nad6, cob, and cox1 genes) and probable selection constraints (atp8, nad1, nad2, and nad5) in the mt genes of T. dohrnii and projected alterations in respiratory chain proteins (NADH4, NADH5, and COX1 proteins). We identified the taxonomic connections of T. dohrnii, recovering Filifera IV as a paraphyletic taxon, and analyzed intraspecific diversity of several Hydrozoa species.

Lisenkova, A. A., Grigorenko, A. P., Tyazhelova, T. V., Andreeva, T. V., Gusev, F. E., Manakhov, A. D., Goltsov, A. Y., Piraino, S., Miglietta, M. P., & Rogaev, E. I. (2017). Complete mitochondrial genome and evolutionary analysis of Turritopsis dohrnii, the "immortal" jellyfish with a reversible life-cycle. Molecular phylogenetics and evolution, 107, 232–238. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2016.11.007