The Complete Mitochondrial DNA sequence of the guanaco (Lama guanicoe): Comparative analysis with the vicuña (Vicugna vicugna) genome

DI ROCCO F, MATÉ L, ZAMBELLI A.,VIDAL-RIOJA L

GENETICA

Springer

Año: 2009

0016-6707

South American camelids comprise guanaco (Lama guanicoe) and vicuña (Vicugna vicugna) wild species and domestic llama (Lama glama) and alpaca (Lama pacos).This paper presents the first complete mitochondrial genome of the guanaco and the mitochondrial coding sequence of the vicuña. The guanaco molecule is 16,649 nt long and its composition and organization are similar to the mitochondrial genome of other mammals. Excluding the control region, comparison of the complete guanaco and vicuña mitochondrial DNA showed 4.4% sequence divergence. Nucleotide differences in peptide coding genes varied from 1.9% in ATP6 to 6.4% in Cyt b. These values are compatible with the close relatedness of both species identified by others authors. Based on the differences between the control region sequence here reported and that previously described, we also discuss NUMTs occurrence in the genome of South American camelids.