The complete mitochondrial genome of Nicrophorus maculifrons

Silphidae is a kind of typical saprophagous beetle that plays an important role in material recycle of the ecosystems and the prevention of the spread of wildlife diseases. It’s also a significant forensic insect and can be used to estimate time of death of the body. Nicrophorus maculifrons belongs to Nicrophorinae, Silphidae, Coleoptera. In this study, high-throughput sequencing technology was used to assembly the complete mitochondrial genome sequence of N. maculifrons. We analyzed its sequence structure, base composition, codon usage frequency, and tRNA gene secondary structure. At the same time, we constructed two phylogenetic trees using Bayesian and maximum likelihood methods based on the sequences of 13 protein-coding genes of the N. maculifrons and seven other species of Silphidae insects. The results showed that the length of the mitochondrial genome of N. maculifrons is 16 692 bp, including 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 tRNAs, 2 rRNAs (16S rRNA and 12S rRNA) and an incomplete control region. The mitochondrial genome has a clear AT bias, and the content of A+T is 76.42%. The order of gene arrangement is consistent with that of Drosophila yakuba, and no rearrangement occurs. All the predicted tRNA genes show the classic clover-leaf secondary structure, except for 4 genes with some missing structures. The results of two phylogenetic analyzes based on 13 protein-coding genes showed that the phylogenetic relationship between the N. maculifrons and Nicrophorus nepalensis is the closest, which was consistent with the traditional morphological classification results.