Complete mitochondrial genome of Chrysolophus pictus (Galliformes: Phasianidae), a national protected wild pheasant in China

The complete mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) of golden pheasant Chrysolophus pictus from North China was sequenced by the shotgun genome skimming methods. The mitogenome of C. pictus was 16,678 bp in length, consisting of 13 protein-coding genes, 22 tRNA genes, two rRNA genes and one non-coding control region (D-loop). Its overall base composition was 30.4% A, 24.8% T, 31.2% C and 13.6% G. All protein-coding genes had a typical ATG initiation codon except COX1 with GTG and terminated with a TAN codon, whereas COX1 terminated with a codon of AGG, COX3, ND2 and ND4 terminated with a single T. The ML phylogenetic tree constructed using 13 protein-coding genes showed that Chrysolophus species formed a monophyletic group, which was sister to the clade clustered by the two genera Crossoptilon and Lophura.