The complete sequence of a brown algal mitochondrial genome, the ectocarpale Pylaiella littoralis (L.) Kjellm.

We describe here the complete sequence (58,507 bp) of the mitochondrial genome of the brown alga Pylaiella littoralis (Ectocarpales). This molecule displays an AT content of 62.0% and contains seventy-nine genes, most of them (73) encoded on one strand. They include the usual mitochondrial set of protist genes and a number of rarer genes. Among these, several ribosomal protein genes and the rn5 were identified. Twenty-four tRNA genes are present in this genome, insufficient to decode all genes. The other conspicuous features of this molecule are: a large (3018 nucleotides) in-frame insertion of unknown function in the cox2 gene; the presence of two different lineages of group II introns, including complete reverse transcriptase-like genes, one in the cox1 and the other in the rnl gene; the concomitant occurrence of a T7-like RNA polymerase and of several well-conserved alpha-proteobacterial-type promoters; and a small nad11 gene, coding for the first domain only of this NADH dehydrogenase subunit. Altogether, the mitochondrial genome of P. littoralis exhibits both alpha-proteobacterial characteristics and evidences of the independent integration of several exogenous DNA fragments.