Lee Sung-Gwon, Kim Seongmin, Park Chungoo
School of Biological Sciences and Technology, Chonnam National University, Yongbong-ro 77, Gwangju, 61186, Republic of Korea.
Laboratory of Genetics and Physiology, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, US National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA.
Sci Rep. 2025 Aug 5;15(1):28596. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-05085-y.
The Scorpaeniformes order encompasses a diverse array of teleost fish, including commercially important and venomous species. Fish venoms offer significant pharmacological potential, but incomplete phylogenetic understanding has hindered research. Resolving relationships among venomous fish families is crucial for studying venom evolution and discovering novel bioactive compounds. To address these phylogenetic uncertainties, we generated and assembled the complete mitochondrial genomes of Paracentropogon rubripinnis (Tetrarogidae) and Inimicus japonicus (Synanceiidae), two representative venomous species. The circular mitogenomes, 16,465 bp and 16,676 bp in length, respectively, contain the typical vertebrate mitochondrial gene complement. Comparative analyses revealed a highly conserved gene order and orientation across Scorpaeniformes, with slight variations in the Notothenioidei outgroups. We identified three novel conserved sequence blocks in the control regions and characterized structural features of protein-coding genes, tRNAs, and non-coding elements. Phylogenetic analyses using 13 mitochondrial protein-coding genes from 71 Scorpaeniformes and three outgroup species provided a higher-resolution phylogeny of the order, including 12 families and 31 genera. Our results support the monophyly of Tetrarogidae and Synanceiidae, placing them in an early-diverging position within the Scorpaeniformes phylogeny. This study provides insights into the phylogenetic positions of venomous fish families and lays a foundation for future research on fish venom evolution and applications.
鲉形目包含种类繁多的硬骨鱼，包括具有商业重要性的有毒种类。鱼毒具有巨大的药理学潜力，但系统发育认识的不完整阻碍了相关研究。解决有毒鱼类家族之间的关系对于研究毒液进化和发现新型生物活性化合物至关重要。为了解决这些系统发育的不确定性，我们生成并组装了红鳍副棘鲉（赤刀鱼科）和日本鬼鲉（鲉科）这两种代表性有毒物种的完整线粒体基因组。这两个环状线粒体基因组的长度分别为16,465 bp和16,676 bp，包含典型的脊椎动物线粒体基因组合。比较分析显示，鲉形目鱼类的基因顺序和方向高度保守，南极鱼亚目的外类群有轻微变化。我们在控制区域中鉴定出三个新的保守序列块，并对蛋白质编码基因、tRNA和非编码元件的结构特征进行了表征。利用来自71种鲉形目鱼类和三种外类群物种的13个线粒体蛋白质编码基因进行的系统发育分析，提供了该目更高分辨率的系统发育树，包括12个科和31个属。我们的结果支持赤刀鱼科和鲉科的单系性，将它们置于鲉形目系统发育树中较早分化的位置。这项研究为有毒鱼类家族的系统发育位置提供了见解，并为未来鱼类毒液进化和应用的研究奠定了基础。
