Phylogenetic relationship of the firefly,Diaphanes pectinealis(Insecta,Coleoptera,Lampyridae) based on DNA sequence and gene structure of luciferase

Diaphanes is the fourth largest genus in Lampyridae, but no luciferase gene from this genus has been reported. In this paper, by PCR amplification of the genomic DNA, the luciferase gene of Diaphanes pectinealis, which is the first case from Diaphanes, was identified and sequenced. The luciferase gene from D. pectinealis spans 1958 base pairs (bp) from the start to the stop codon, including seven axons separated by six introns, and encoding a 547-residue-long polypeptide. Its deduced amino acid sequence showed high protein similarity to those of the Lampyrini tribe (93-94%) and the Cratomorphini tribe (92%), while low similarity was found with the North American firefly Photinus pyralis (83%) of the Photinini tribe within the same subfamily Lampyrinae. The phylogenetic analysis performed with the deduced amino acid sequences of the luciferase gene further confirms that D. pectinealis, Pyrocoelia, Lampyris, Cratomorphus, and Photinus belong to the same subfamily Lampyrinae, and Diaphanes is closely related to Pyrocoelia, Lampyris, and Cratomorphus. Furthemore, the phylogenetic analysis based on the nucleotide sequences of the luciferase gene indicates Diaphanes is a sister to Lampyris. The phylogenetic analyses are partly consistent with morphological (Branham & Wenzel, 2003) and mitochondrial DNA analyses (Li et al, 2006).