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The genome of the fire ant Solenopsis invicta

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Wurm, Y., Wang, J., Riba-Grognuz, O., Corona, M., Nygaard, S., Hunt, B. G., Ingram, K. K., Falquet, L., Nipitwattanaphon, M., Gotzek, D., Dijkstra, M. B., Oettler, J., Comtesse, F., Shih, C. J., Wu, W. J., Yang, C. C., Thomas, J., Beaudoing, E., Pradervand, S., Flegel, V., Cook, E. D., Fabbretti, R., Stockinger, H., Long, L., Farmerie, W. G., Oakey, J., Boomsma, J. J., Pamilo, P., Yi, S. V., Heinze, J., Goodisman, M. A. D., Farinelli, L., Harshman, K., Hulo, N., Cerutti, L., Xenarios, I., Shoemaker, D. and Keller, L. (2011) The genome of the fire ant Solenopsis invicta. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 108 (14). pp. 5679-5684.

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Article Link: http://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1009690108

Publisher URL: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3078418/pdf/pnas.201009690.pdf

Abstract

Ants have evolved very complex societies and are key ecosystem members. Some ants, such as the fire ant Solenopsis invicta, are also major pests. Here, we present a draft genome of S. invicta, assembled from Roche 454 and Illumina sequencing reads obtained from a focal haploidmale and his brothers.Weused comparative genomic methods to obtain insight into the unique features of the S. invicta genome. For example, we found that this genome harbors four adjacent copies of vitellogenin. A phylogenetic analysis revealed that an ancestral vitellogenin gene first underwent a duplication that was followed by possibly independent duplications of each of the daughter vitellogenins. The vitellogenin genes have undergone subfunctionalization with queen- and worker-specific expression, possibly reflecting differential selection acting on the queen andworker castes. Additionally, we identified more than 400 putative olfactory receptors of which at least 297 are intact. This represents the largest repertoire reported so far in insects. S. invicta also harbors an expansion of a specific family of lipid-processing genes, two putative orthologs to the transformer/feminizer sex differentiation gene, a functional DNA methylation system, and a single putative telomerase ortholog. EST data indicate that this S. invicta telomerase ortholog has at least four spliceforms that differ in their use of two sets ofmutually exclusive exons. Someof these and other unique aspects of the fire ant genome are likely linked to the complex social behavior of this species.

Item Type:Article
Keywords:Caste differences De novo genome assembly Nonmodel organism Social insect
Subjects:Science > Entomology
Science > Invasive Species > Animals > Animal control and ecology
Live Archive:04 Apr 2019 01:24
Last Modified:03 Sep 2021 16:45

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