Complete mitochondrial genome of the Chinese oriental vole Eothenomys chinensis (Rodentia: Arvicolinae).

The Chinese oriental vole (Eothenomys chinensis) belongs to subfamily Arvicolinae, which is endemic to the mountains in southwest China. E. chinensis and other Arvicoline species display a number of features that make them ideal for evolutionary studies of speciation and the role of Quaternary glacial cycles on diversification. In this study, the complete mitochondrial genome of E. chinensis was sequenced. It was determined to be 16,362 bases. The nucleotide sequence data of 12 heavy-strand protein-coding genes of E. chinensis and other 19 rodents were used for phylogenetic analyses. Trees constructed using three different phylogenetic methods (Bayesian, maximum parsimony, and maximum likelihood) showed a similar topology demonstrating that E. chinensis was clustered in subfamily arvicolinae--formed a solid monophyletic group being sister to the subfamily Cricetinae. And the trees also suggested that E. chinensis is a sister to the genus Microtus and Proedromys.