The mitochondrial genome organization of the rice frog, Fejervarya limnocharis (Amphibia: Anura): a new gene order in the vertebrate mtDNA.

The mitochondrial DNA of the rice frog, Fejervarya limnocharis (Amphibia, Anura), was obtained using long-and-accurate polymerase chain reaction (LA-PCR) combining with subcloning method. The complete nucleotide sequence (17,717 bp) of mitochondrial genome was determined subsequently. This mitochondrial genome is characterized by four distinctive features: the translocation of ND5 gene, a cluster of rearranged tRNA genes (tRNAThr, tRNAPro, tRNA(Leu CUN)), a tandem duplication of tRNAMet gene, and eight large 89-bp tandem repeats in the control region, as well as three short noncoding regions containing two repeated motifs existing in the gene cluster of ND5/tRNAThr/tRNAPro/tRNALeu/tRNAPhe. The tandem duplication of gene regions followed by deletions of supernumerary genes can be invoked to explain the shuffling of tRNAMet and a cluster of tRNA and ND5 genes, as observed in this study. Both ND5 gene translocation and tandem duplication of tRNAMet were first observed in the vertebrate mitochondrial genomes.