Evolutionary insights into mitochondrial D-loop sequence variability between genera Amiota and Phortica (Diptera: Drosophilidae)

The Steganinae is the only subfamily sister to the Drosophilinae. In this study, we assembled complete mitogenomes from the whole genome sequencing data of six representative species of the genus Amiota and six representative species of the genus Phortica. These newly accessible mitogenomes enabled us to perform the first comparative analysis within the Steganinae. Moreover, the most variable and little studied regions of mitogenomes, the D-loop regions, also showed unambiguous generic characteristics and evolutionary implications between the Amiota and Phortica. Overall, our results provide a systematic assessment and evolutionary insights into the mitogenome variability especially the D-loop sequence variability between the Amiota and Phortica.