Complete mitochondrial genomes of Eastern Massasauga (Sistrurus catenatus) and North American Racer (Coluber constrictor)

Abstract

We report the complete mitochondrial genomes of two snake species of conservation concern, Eastern Massasauga (Sistrurus catenatus) and North American Racer (Coluber constrictor). The mitogenome length is 17,245bp for S. catenatus and 17,142bp for C. constrictor. Both mitogenomes include 13 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer RNA genes, two ribosomal RNA genes and two control regions. Gene arrangements are similar between two species, except that tRNA-Pro is located between tRNA-Ile and Control Region 2 in S. catenatus, but between tRNA-Thr and Control Region 1 in C. constrictor. Such gene arrangements are typical of their respective families, Viperidae and Colubridae. A phylogenetic tree with 21 additional snake species using concatenated 12 protein-coding genes (without ND6) supported current taxonomy of two reported species. We also found that North American racers in Ohio, Michigan (USA) and Pelee Island (Canada) were more closely allied to Pennsylvania individuals from the Eastern United States.