Complete mitochondrial genome of the giant liver fluke Fascioloides magna (Digenea: Fasciolidae) and its comparison with selected trematodes

Background Representatives of the trematode family Fasciolidae are responsible for major socio-economic losses worldwide. Fascioloides magna is an important pathogenic liver fluke of wild and domestic ungulates. To date, only a limited number of studies concerning the molecular biology of F. magna exist. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to determine the complete mitochondrial (mt) genome sequence of F. magna, and assess the phylogenetic relationships of this fluke with other trematodes based on the mtDNA dataset. Findings The complete F. magna mt genome sequence is 14,047 bp. The gene content and arrangement of the F. magna mt genome is similar to those of Fasciola spp., except that trnE is located between trnG and the only non-coding region in F. magna mt genome. Phylogenetic relationships of F. magna with selected trematodes using Bayesian inference (BI) was reconstructed based on the concatenated amino acid sequences for 12 protein-coding genes, which confirmed that the genus Fascioloides is closely related to the genus Fasciola; the intergeneric differences of amino acid composition between the genera Fascioloides and Fasciola ranged 17.97–18.24 %. Conclusions The determination of F. magna mt genome sequence provides a valuable resource for further investigations of the phylogeny of the family Fasciolidae and other trematodes, and represents a useful platform for designing appropriate molecular markers. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13071-016-1699-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.