Sequencing of the domestic silkworm mitochondrial genome, C-108 strain. Bombyx mori strain:C-108

The complete mitochondrial (mt) genome sequence of the C-108 strain of Bombyx mori, the domesticated silkmoth, was determined at the National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences, Japan, and is available under the accession number AB070264. The mt genome has a gene content and order typical of insects, with a single translocation relative to the mt genome of Drosophila yakuba, which is thought to represent the gene order of the ancestral insect. Large amounts of sequence divergence between the mt genomes of B. mori and its wild relative, B. mandarina, suggest that the two species were genetically isolated from each other approximately 7.1 million years ago. The C-108 strain contains 12 mismatches and 13 insertions or deletions relative to the Backokjam strain.