Partial mitochondrial genome of the enigmatic Bermuda fireworm Odontosyllis enopla Verrill, 1900 (Annelida, Syllidae, Eusyllinae) and its phylogenetic implications

Author(s)

• Lynette D. Wyant, University of South Carolina - Beaufort
• Brendan A. Cruz, University of South Carolina - Beaufort
• Aydanni D. Gonzalez, University of South Carolina - Beaufort
• Joshua M. Kovalcik, University of South Carolina - Beaufort
• Maria A. Carolus, University of South Carolina - Beaufort
• Lauren C. Hutto, University of South Carolina - Beaufort
• Hope Chutjian, University of South Carolina - Beaufort
• Jude C. Roman, University of South Carolina - Beaufort
• Anneau Cappelmann, University of South Carolina - Beaufort
• John J. Ankney, University of South Carolina - Beaufort
• Aidan Popp, University of South Carolina - Beaufort
• James B. Wood, University of Hawaii, Manoa
• D. Tye Pettay, University of South Carolina - Beaufort
• Mercer R. Brugler, University of South Carolina - BeaufortFollow

Document Type

Article

Subject Area(s)

Natural Sciences

Abstract

The Bermuda fireworm, Odontosyllis enopla Verrill, 1900, is a marine polychaete that displays a unique bioluminescent mating ritual. Despite the first sighting of O. enopla more than 534 years ago, molecular data have been limited. Several syllid mitogenomes are currently available; however, there are only three published genes for O. enopla: two partial mitochondrial genes (16S [508 bp] and cox1 [653 bp]; 1,161 bp total) and one partial nuclear gene (18S [1,339 bp]). This study bioinformatically mined previously published transcriptomes of O. enopla for mitochondrial reads and subsequently assembled and annotated a partial mitochondrial genome (10,172 bp). The partial mitogenome includes nine (of 13) protein-coding genes, two ribosomal RNAs, and seven (of 22) complete tRNAs. We place the Bermuda fireworm in phylogenetic context using all available syllid mitogenomes, analyze intraspecific variation among three female O. enopla partial mitogenomes, and propose a putative location for the mitochondrial origin of replication using a DNA Walker analysis.

Publication Info

Published in ZooKeys, ed. Christopher Glasby, Volume 1270, 2026, pages 33-49.

Copyright: © Lynette D. Wyant et al. This is an open access article distributed under terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (Attribution 4.0 International – CC BY 4.0).