| Background Because of its typical architecture, inheritance and small size, mitochondrial (mt) DNA is widely used for phylogenetic studies. Gene order is generally conserved in most taxa although some groups show considerable variation. This is particularly true in the phylum Mollusca, especially in the Bivalvia. During the last few years, there have been significant increases in the number of complete mitochondrial sequences available. For bivalves, 35 complete mitochondrial genomes are now available in GenBank, a number that has more than doubled in the last three years, representing 6 families and 23 genera. In the current study, we determined the complete mtDNA sequence of Ostrea edulis, the European flat oyster. We present an analysis of features of... |
