Abstract
BACKGROUND: Annelids are one the most speciose and ecologically diverse groups of metazoans. Although a significant effort has been recently invested in sequencing genomes of a wide array of metazoans, many orders and families within the phylum Annelida are still represented by a single specimen of a single species. The genus of interstitial annelids Ophryotrocha (Dorvilleidae, Errantia, Annelida) is among these neglected groups, despite its extensive use as model organism in numerous studies on the evolution of life history, physiological and ecological traits. To compensate for the paucity of genomic information in this genus, we here obtained novel complete mitochondrial genomes of six Ophryotrocha species using next generation sequencing. In addition, we investigated the evolution of the reproductive mode in the Ophryotrocha genus using a phylogeny based on two mitochondrial markers (COXI and 16S rDNA) and one nuclear fragment (Histone H3). RESULTS: Surprisingly, gene order was not conserved among the six Ophryotrocha species investigated, and varied greatly as compared to those found in other annelid species within the class Errantia. The mitogenome phylogeny for the six Ophryotrocha species displayed a separation of gonochoric and hermaphroditic species. However, this separation was not observed in the phylogeny based on the COX1, 16S rDNA, and H3 genes. Parsimony and Bayesian ancestral trait reconstruction indicated that gonochorism was the most parsimonious ancestral reproductive mode in Ophryotrocha spp. CONCLUSIONS: Our results highlight the remarkably high level of gene order variation among congeneric species, even in annelids. This encourages the need for additional mitogenome sequencing of annelid taxa in order to properly understand its mtDNA evolution, high biodiversity and phylogenetic relationships.