Aspergillus flavus is a haploid filamentous fungus that is common in the environment and has been implicated in human infections. The complete mitochondrial genome of A. flavus has been determined by high-throughput sequencing technology in this work. Our study revealed that the mitochondrial genome of A. flavus is 31,602 bp long, with an A + T content of 74.83%, which consists of a usual set of mitochondrial proteins and RNA genes, including large and small ribosomal RNAs, 15 proteins, and 20 tRNA genes and contains two introns. Notably, it also contains two hypothetical proteins without obvious homology to any known proteins. All structural genes are located on one strand and are apparently transcribed in one direction. Codon usage analysis indicated that all protein coding genes employ the standard fungal mitochondrial start and stop codons; and the nucleotide bias toward AT was also reflected in the codon usage. The complete mitochondrial genomes of A. flavus would be useful for future investigation of the genetic, evolution, and clinical identification of Aspergillus species.
Keywords: Aspergillus flavus; high-throughput sequencing; mitochondrial genome.