ABSTRACT
The Guizhou golden monkey (Rhinopithecus brelichi) is a critically endangered wildlife species, and understanding its diet composition may be useful for assessing its feeding strategies. DNA metabarcoding was used to determine the dietary diversity of R. brelichi. DNA was extracted from 31 faecal samples and amplified chloroplast rbcL and mitochondrial COI DNA was sequenced using the Illumina NovaSeq platform. A comparative analysis of the sequences revealed that the five most abundant plant genera were Magnolia, Morinda, Viburnum, Tetradium and Eurya. In winter, R. brelichi mostly consumed shrubs, herbs and shrubs/trees according to the habit of plant genera with higher abundances comparatively. The five most abundant families in animal diet were Psychodidae, Trichinellidae, Staphylinidae, Scarabaeidae and Trichoceridae. This study is the first to show the composition of the winter animal diets of R. brelichi based on DNA metabarcoding. These results provide an important basis for understanding the diet of wild R. brelichi, which inhabits only the Fanjingshan National Nature Reserve, China.
ABSTRACT
The complete mitochondrial genome of Basiprionota bisignata (Boheman, 1862) (a species of leaf beetles) was successfully sequenced, annotated, and analyzed in this study. This mitochondrial genome is a circular DNA molecule of 16,069 bp in size with 78.5% AT content, including 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 2 ribosomal RNA genes (rRNAs), 22 transfer RNA genes (tRNAs), and an AT-rich region (control region). The gene order is consistent with the putative ancestral arrangement of insects. All PCGs are initiated by ATN (A/T/C/G) condons and terminated with TAA/G or their incomplete form single T-. All tRNAs can be folded into common clover leaf secondary structures, except for trnS1. The phylogenetic tree was reconstructed using maximum likelihood analysis, and the topology recovered the monophyly of Cassidinae and the sister relationship between Basiprionota and the clade (Thlaspida + Aspidomorph).