Characterization and phylogenetic analysis of the first complete mitochondrial genome sequence of three Artocarpus species in Hainan Province

The <i>Artocarpus</i> genus, belonging to the Moraceae family, exhibits various pharmacological and biological functions. However, the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of <i>Artocarpus</i> species remains largely unexplored, which hampers our understanding of its phylogenetic classification as well as population identification. In this study, we completely sequenced and assembled the mtDNA of three <i>Artocarpus</i> species, including <i>Artocarpus heterophyllus</i>, <i>A. heterophyllus</i>(<i>R</i>), and <i>A. integer</i>. Three <i>Artocarpus</i> species exhibited highly similar mtDNA features, with mtDNA sizes of approximately 438,620 bp, consisting of six contigs, and included 32 different protein-coding genes (PCGs). The codon usage analysis demonstrated that Leucine and Serine were the most preferred amino acids in three <i>Artocarpus</i> species. Furthermore, in three <i>Artocarpus</i> species mt genomes, 9 homologous fragments were found to transfer from the cp genome, which contain complete <i>psaB</i>, <i>psaA</i>, <i>ndhB</i> and <i>rps7</i> genes. Phylogenetic trees further reveal that three <i>Artocarpus</i> species are most closely related to <i>Ficus carica</i> and <i>Morus notabilis</i>. In summary, this study fills the gap in mitochondrial genome data within the <i>Artocarpus</i> genus and provides a theoretical foundation for further understanding the taxonomic classification within <i>Artocarpus</i> species.