Large mitochondrial genomes in tenthredinid sawflies (Hymenoptera, Tenthredinidae)

We sequenced and assembled mitochondrial genomes of three tenthredinid sawflies (<i>Euura poecilonota</i>, <i>E. striata</i>, and <i>Dolerus timidus</i>) using Oxford Nanopore Technologies' MinION. The Canu assembler produced circular assemblies (23,000-40,000 bp). Still, errors were found in the highly repetitive non-coding control region because of the fragmented DNA which led to no reads spanning the complete control region, preventing its reliable assembly. Based on the non-repetitive coding region's sequencing coverage, we estimate the lengths of mitochondrial genomes of <i>E. poecilonota</i>, <i>D. timidus</i>, and <i>E. striata</i> to be about 30,000 bp, 31,000 bp, and 37,000 bp and control region to be 15,000 bp, 16,000 bp, and 22,000 bp respectively. All standard bilaterian mitochondrial genes are in the same order and orientation, except <i>trnQ</i>, which is on the minus strand in <i>Euura</i> and the plus strand in <i>Dolerus</i>. Using published tenthredinid genome data, we show that control region lengths are often underestimated.