The mitochondrial genome of the western bean cutworm, Striacosta albicosta (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

The complete 15,553 bp mitochondrial genome of the western bean cutworm, Stricosta albicosta, (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) was assembled from paired end Illumina HiSeq2500 read data. Annotation showed 13 predicted protein coding genes (PCGs), 22 tRNAs and 2 rRNAs have an order and orientation typical of insect mitochondrial genomes, and the derived rearrangement of tRNA-Met, -Ile and -Gln upstream of nad2 as in other Lepidoptera. A 79.3% A + T content resulted in a bias for codons with A or T in the 3rd position, and prevalence of synonymous substitutions suggest the effects of purifying selection on the mitochondrial genome sequence. Two microsatellite repeat motifs, (CA)(10)(AT)(19) and (AT)(12), are respectively located in intergenic spaces between tRNA-Glu and -Phe and tRNA-Leu and 16S rRNA. Mitochondrial phylogenomics was able to resolve sub-families within the Noctuidae, and suggest analogous analyses may be applicable across other lepidopteran Families.