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Abstract

ABSTRACT Saurogobio punctatus is a small-sized freshwater fish, widely distributed in eastern Asia. Presently, eight species are recognized as valid in Surogobio, among which the complete mitochondrial genome information had been known for seven species, except for S. punctatus. The lack of information was partly due to the recent discovery and establish of S. punctatus in the genus Saurogobio only in 2018. In the present study, the complete mitochondrial genome of S. punctatus was determined and phylogenetic of Saurogobio was analyzed using the complete mitochondrial genome sequence. The genome was 16,600 bp in length, with 55.98% of (A + T) content. It consisted of 13 protein-coding genes, 2 ribosomal RNAs, 22 tRNAs and a control region. The gene composition and the structural arrangement of the S. punctatus complete mtDNA were identical to other Saurogobio species. Phylogenetic analyses indicated that S. punctatus was closely related to S. dabryi, with strong statistical support, and was regarded as the sister taxon of the clade formed by S. xiangjiangensis, S. gracilicaudatus and S. dabryi, distinctly separated from all other Saurogobio species. It was inconsistent with previous results; the possible reason could be the different sequence utilized in each study. Moreover, phylogenetic results based on whole mitochondrial genomes were more reliable than partial mitochondrial.