The Whole Genome Assembly and Comparative Genomic Research of Thellungiella parvula (Extremophile Crucifer) Mitochondrion

The complete nucleotide sequences of the mitochondrial (mt) genome of an extremophile species Thellungiella parvula (T. parvula) have been determined with the lengths of 255,773 bp. T. parvula mt genome is a circular sequence and contains 32 protein-coding genes, 19 tRNA genes, and three ribosomal RNA genes with a 11.5% coding sequence. The base composition of 27.5% A, 27.5% T, 22.7% C, and 22.3% G in descending order shows a slight bias of 55% AT. Fifty-three repeats were identified in the mitochondrial genome of T. parvula, including 24 direct repeats, 28 tandem repeats (TRs), and one palindromic repeat. Furthermore, a total of 199 perfect microsatellites have been mined with a high A/T content (83.1%) through simple sequence repeat (SSR) analysis and they were distributed unevenly within this mitochondrial genome. We also analyzed other plant mitochondrial genomes' evolution in general, providing clues for the understanding of the evolution of organelles genomes in plants. Comparing with other Brassicaceae species, T. parvula is related to Arabidopsis thaliana whose characters of low temperature resistance have been well documented. This study will provide important genetic tools for other Brassicaceae species research and improve yields of economically important plants.