Mitogenome analysis of Indian isolate of Rhipicephalus microplus clade A sensu (): A first report from Maritime South-East Asia.

This communication reports a comprehensive profile of mitogenome analysis of Rhipicephalus microplus, isolated and identified from Andaman and Nicobar islands, a part of Maritime South East Asia. Complete mitogenome of Indian isolate of R. microplus (MK234703) was 14,903 bp. Mitochondrial (mt.) genome had 13 protein coding genes (PCGs), 22 tRNAs, two ribosomal subunits and two control regions. All PCGs were located on the H-strand except nad1, nad5, nad4 and nad4L. All start codons were ATN codon and abbreviated stop codons were seen in cox-2-3, nad-5 and cytb. A purine rich tick-box motif has been identified. A tandem repeat unit (TTTATT), described as a region alike to nad1 was identified in 130 bp insertion in between nad1 and tRNA-Glu and in nad1 sequence. Presence of two control regions (CRs) proved that, two CRs have evolved in concert rather than independently. Strong biasness towards A and T in Indian isolate of R. microplus is a typical feature for most of the arthropods. Subtracted values of dn and ds suggested that, there was least effect of nt. sequence of cox1 gene when Indian isolate was compared with other isolates of Rhipicephalus. On the basis of phylogenetic analysis, species of the genus Rhipicephalus could be clustered in three groups; ticks of the genera belonging to sub-family Rhipicephalinae could be grouped in a single cluster. Finally, cox1 sequence of MK234703 indicated that the isolate belonged to clade A sensu Burger et al., 2014 which has not been reported earlier from India.