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Draft genome of the red harvester ant Pogonomyrmex barbatus

Smith, Chris R ; Smith, Christopher D ; Robertson, Hugh M ; Helmkampf, Martin ; Zimin, Aleksey ; Yandell, Mark ; Holt, Carson ; Hu, Hao ; Abouheif, Ehab and Benton, Richard , et al. (2011) In Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 108(14). p.5667-5672
Abstract

We report the draft genome sequence of the red harvester ant, Pogonomyrmex barbatus. The genome was sequenced using 454 pyrosequencing, and the current assembly and annotation were completed in less than 1 y. Analyses of conserved gene groups (more than 1,200 manually annotated genes to date) suggest a high-quality assembly and annotation comparable to recently sequenced insect genomes using Sanger sequencing. The red harvester ant is a model for studying reproductive division of labor, phenotypic plasticity, and sociogenomics. Although the genome of P. barbatus is similar to other sequenced hymenopterans (Apis mellifera and Nasonia vitripennis) in GC content and compositional organization, and possesses a complete CpG methylation... (More)

We report the draft genome sequence of the red harvester ant, Pogonomyrmex barbatus. The genome was sequenced using 454 pyrosequencing, and the current assembly and annotation were completed in less than 1 y. Analyses of conserved gene groups (more than 1,200 manually annotated genes to date) suggest a high-quality assembly and annotation comparable to recently sequenced insect genomes using Sanger sequencing. The red harvester ant is a model for studying reproductive division of labor, phenotypic plasticity, and sociogenomics. Although the genome of P. barbatus is similar to other sequenced hymenopterans (Apis mellifera and Nasonia vitripennis) in GC content and compositional organization, and possesses a complete CpG methylation toolkit, its predicted genomic CpG content differs markedly from the other hymenopterans. Gene networks involved in generating key differences between the queen and worker castes (e.g., wings and ovaries) show signatures of increased methylation and suggest that ants and bees may have independently co-opted the same gene regulatory mechanisms for reproductive division of labor. Gene family expansions (e.g., 344 functional odorant receptors) and pseudogene accumulation in chemoreception and P450 genes compared with A. mellifera and N. vitripennis are consistent with major life-history changes during the adaptive radiation of Pogonomyrmex spp., perhaps in parallel with the development of the North American deserts.

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publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
keywords
Animals, Ants/genetics, Base Sequence, Desert Climate, Gene Regulatory Networks/genetics, Genome, Insect/genetics, Genomics/methods, Hierarchy, Social, Molecular Sequence Data, North America, Phenotype, Phylogeny, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide/genetics, Receptors, Odorant/genetics, Sequence Analysis, DNA
in
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
volume
108
issue
14
pages
5667 - 5672
publisher
National Academy of Sciences
external identifiers
  • pmid:21282651
  • scopus:79955002712
ISSN
1091-6490
DOI
10.1073/pnas.1007901108
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
12bc5c3f-38b6-4ca6-8e2d-7c4a3ea5f845
date added to LUP
2019-11-10 16:46:45
date last changed
2024-08-07 09:21:59
@article{12bc5c3f-38b6-4ca6-8e2d-7c4a3ea5f845,
  abstract     = {{<p>We report the draft genome sequence of the red harvester ant, Pogonomyrmex barbatus. The genome was sequenced using 454 pyrosequencing, and the current assembly and annotation were completed in less than 1 y. Analyses of conserved gene groups (more than 1,200 manually annotated genes to date) suggest a high-quality assembly and annotation comparable to recently sequenced insect genomes using Sanger sequencing. The red harvester ant is a model for studying reproductive division of labor, phenotypic plasticity, and sociogenomics. Although the genome of P. barbatus is similar to other sequenced hymenopterans (Apis mellifera and Nasonia vitripennis) in GC content and compositional organization, and possesses a complete CpG methylation toolkit, its predicted genomic CpG content differs markedly from the other hymenopterans. Gene networks involved in generating key differences between the queen and worker castes (e.g., wings and ovaries) show signatures of increased methylation and suggest that ants and bees may have independently co-opted the same gene regulatory mechanisms for reproductive division of labor. Gene family expansions (e.g., 344 functional odorant receptors) and pseudogene accumulation in chemoreception and P450 genes compared with A. mellifera and N. vitripennis are consistent with major life-history changes during the adaptive radiation of Pogonomyrmex spp., perhaps in parallel with the development of the North American deserts.</p>}},
  author       = {{Smith, Chris R and Smith, Christopher D and Robertson, Hugh M and Helmkampf, Martin and Zimin, Aleksey and Yandell, Mark and Holt, Carson and Hu, Hao and Abouheif, Ehab and Benton, Richard and Cash, Elizabeth and Croset, Vincent and Currie, Cameron R and Elhaik, Eran and Elsik, Christine G and Favé, Marie-Julie and Fernandes, Vilaiwan and Gibson, Joshua D and Graur, Dan and Gronenberg, Wulfila and Grubbs, Kirk J and Hagen, Darren E and Viniegra, Ana Sofia Ibarraran and Johnson, Brian R and Johnson, Reed M and Khila, Abderrahman and Kim, Jay W and Mathis, Kaitlyn A and Munoz-Torres, Monica C and Murphy, Marguerite C and Mustard, Julie A and Nakamura, Rin and Niehuis, Oliver and Nigam, Surabhi and Overson, Rick P and Placek, Jennifer E and Rajakumar, Rajendhran and Reese, Justin T and Suen, Garret and Tao, Shu and Torres, Candice W and Tsutsui, Neil D and Viljakainen, Lumi and Wolschin, Florian and Gadau, Jürgen}},
  issn         = {{1091-6490}},
  keywords     = {{Animals; Ants/genetics; Base Sequence; Desert Climate; Gene Regulatory Networks/genetics; Genome, Insect/genetics; Genomics/methods; Hierarchy, Social; Molecular Sequence Data; North America; Phenotype; Phylogeny; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide/genetics; Receptors, Odorant/genetics; Sequence Analysis, DNA}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{04}},
  number       = {{14}},
  pages        = {{5667--5672}},
  publisher    = {{National Academy of Sciences}},
  series       = {{Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America}},
  title        = {{Draft genome of the red harvester ant Pogonomyrmex barbatus}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1007901108}},
  doi          = {{10.1073/pnas.1007901108}},
  volume       = {{108}},
  year         = {{2011}},
}