The complete mitochondrial genome of the invasive Ponto-Caspian goby Ponticola kessleri obtained from high-throughput sequencing using the Ion Torrent Personal Genome Machine.

We report the first complete mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) of an invasive Ponto-Caspian goby, Ponticola kessleri (bighead goby, Günther 1891). Ion Torrent PGM sequencing of total DNA from two individuals yielded a contig of 16,971 bp, with overlapping ends located in the repetitive control region, which was validated using Sanger sequencing. The final mitogenome of Ponticola kessleri has a size of 16,890 bp and contains the expected gene configuration of 13 protein-coding genes, 2 rRNA genes and 22 tRNA genes. In a comparison with complete mitogenomes from other goby species, we identified a translocation of tRNA-Glu in the mitogenome of P. kessleri. Rearrangements are unique and rare events, and can thus provide phylogenetic information.