The complete nucleotide sequence of the mitochondrial genome of the cabbage butterfly, Artogeia melete (Lepidoptera: Pieridae).

The complete mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) of Artogeia melete was determined as being composed of 15,140 bp, including 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 2 rRNA genes, 22 tRNA genes, and one control region. The gene order of A. melete mitogenome is typical of Lepidoptera and differs from the insect ancestral type in the location of trnM. The A. melete mitogenome has a total of 119 bp of intergenic spacer sequences spread over 10 regions, ranging in sizes between 1 and 48 bp. The nucleotide composition of the A. melete mitogenome is also biased toward A 1 T nucleotides (79.77%), which is higher than that of Ochrogaster lunifer (77.84%), but lower than nine other lepidopterans sequenced. The PCGs have typical mitochondrial start codons, except for cox1, which contains the unusual CGA. The cox1, cox2, nad2, and nad5 genes of the A. melete mitogenome have incomplete stop codons (T). The A. melete A 1 T-rich region contains some conserved structures that are similar to those found in other lepidopteran mitogenomes, including a structure combining the motif ATAGA, a 19-bp poly(T) stretch, a microsatellite (AT)n element, and a 9-bp poly(A) upstream trnM. The A. melete mitogenome contains a duplicated 36-bp repeat element, which consists of a 26- bp core sequence flanked by 10-bp perfectly inverted repeats.