A novel gene organization of the rock sparrow Petronia petronia (Aves: Passeriformes) revealed by complete mitochondrial genome

The whole sequence of the Rock Sparrow (Petronia petronia) mitochondrial genome was determined using La-PCR and conserved primer walking approaches. The entire mitogenome was 17,426 bp in length and harboured 13 protein-coding genes, 2 rRNA genes, 23 tRNA genes, and 1 noncoding control region. The mitogenome of this species resembled other avian species in gene arrangement and composition, except that tRNA-Glu had two copies and the control region contained two parts. One part of the control region is between tRNA-Glu and tRNA-Phe and a second between the two tRNA-Glu copies. The overall nucleotide composition are A (30.7%), T (23.8%), G (14.4%), and C (31.1%) with 54.5% A + T content. These mitochondrial data are potentially important for the study of molecular evolution and conservation genetics.