Affordable de novo generation of fish mitogenomes using amplification-free targeted enrichment and deep sequencing of long fragments

Abstract

We developed protocols to sequence whole mitogenomes from fish species with the aim of generating comprehensive databases and simplify the discovery of mitogenomes of non-model or understudied fish taxa to a broad range of laboratories worldwide. Long-fragment sequencing with amplification-free targeted enrichment produced whole mitogenomes with deep coverage. This helped complete the mitogenome of species with homopolymeric regions, tandem repeats, and gene rearrangements, and described new mitogenomes. The experiments were mostly undertaken in a home office during the pandemic, showing that the lab requirements were kept to a minimum, which opens the possibility of generating ad hoc databases during field surveys or oceanographic campaigns.