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Abstract
Complete or near-complete mitochondrial genomes are now available for 11 species or
strains of parasitic flatworms belonging to the Trematoda and the Cestoda. The organization
of these genomes is not strikingly different from those of other eumetazoans, although
one gene (atp8) commonly found in other phyla is absent from flatworms. The gene order
in most flatworms has similarities to those seen in higher protostomes such as annelids.
However, the gene order has been drastically altered in Schistosoma mansoni, which
obscures this possible relationship. Among the sequenced taxa, base composition varies
considerably, creating potential difficulties for phylogeny reconstruction. Long non-coding
regions are present in all taxa, but these vary in length from only a few hundred
to approximately 10000 nucleotides. Among Schistosoma spp., the long non-coding regions
are rich in repeats and length variation among individuals is known. Data from mitochondrial
genomes are valuable for studies on species identification, phylogenies and biogeography.