Mitochondrial Metagenomics Reveals the Ancient Origin and Phylodiversity of Soil Mites and Provides a Phylogeny of the Acari.

摘要: High-throughput DNA methods hold great promise for phylogenetic analysis of lineages that are difficult to study with conventional molecular and morphological approaches. The mites (Acari), in particular the highly diverse soil-dwelling lineages, among least known branches metazoan Tree-of-Life. We extracted numerous minute from soils an area mixed forest grassland southern Iberia. Selected specimens representing full diversity were shotgun sequenced bulk, followed by genome assembly short reads mixture, which produced >100 mitochondrial genomes acarine lineages. Phylogenetic analyses combination taxonomically limited mitogenomes available publicly resulted plausible trees defining basal relationships Acari. Several critical nodes supported ancestral-state reconstructions gene rearrangements. Molecular calibration placed minimum age common ancestor superorder Acariformes, includes most mites, Cambrian-Ordovician (likely within 455-552 Ma), whereas origin Parasitiformes was later Carboniferous-Permian. Most family-level taxa Acariformes dated Jurassic Triassic. ancient early diversification major extant linked soil consistent a pioneering role building earliest terrestrial ecosystems.