Metschnikowia mitochondria

Dong Kyung Lee, The University of Western Ontario

Abstract

Mitochondrial genomes are known for their diverse characteristics and are an attractive model to study genome evolution. Draft nuclear genomes of 71 Metschnikowia yeast strains are publicly available but their mitochondrial genome assemblies are incomplete, thereby making genome studies difficult. To remediate this shortcoming, complete mitochondrial genomes of 71 Metschnikowia strains were assembled from the draft nuclear genomes. Metschnikowia mitochondrial genomes exhibit an unprecedented amount of diversity, particularly with respect to the frequency and distribution of introns, which is often reflected upon overall genome size variations. Additionally, loss of synteny between strains of the same species further strengthens the notion that mitochondrial genomes evolve differently from their host genomes. Diversities shown from multiple genome characteristics explored in this thesis therefore highlights importance of mitochondrial genomes for studying evolution and diversity of genomes that were often neglected.