The genome of the blind soil-dwelling and ancestrally wingless dipluranCampodea augens, a key reference hexapod for studying the emergence of insect innovations

Abstract

The dipluran two-pronged bristletail Campodea augens is a blind ancestrally wingless hexapod with the remarkable capacity to regenerate lost body appendages such as its long antennae. As sister group to Insecta (sensu stricto), Diplura are key to understanding the early evolution of hexapods and the origin and evolution of insects. Here we report the 1.2-Gbp draft genome of C. augens and results from comparative genomic analyses with other arthropods. In C. augens we uncovered the largest chemosensory gene repertoire of ionotropic receptors in the animal kingdom, a massive expansion which might compensate for the loss of vision. We found a paucity of photoreceptor genes mirroring at the genomic level the secondary loss of an ancestral external photoreceptor organ. Expansions of detoxification and carbohydrate metabolism gene families might reflect adaptations for foraging behaviour, and duplicated apoptotic genes might underlie its high regenerative potential.The C. augens genome represents one of the key references for studying the emergence of genomic innovations in insects, the most diverse animal group, and opens up novel opportunities to study the underexplored biology of diplurans.

High‐quality genomes reveal significant genetic divergence and cryptic speciation in the model organism Folsomia candida (collembola)

“…In contrast to insects, xenobiotic detoxification‐related gene families are greatly expanded in Collembola, possibly due to their adaptations to complex soil environments (Faddeeva‐Vakhrusheva et al, 2017; Manni et al, 2020). The copy numbers of these families of FCDK and FCSH may be different, since the parthenogenetic strains show a wider distribution and better adaptability than the sexual strains of F. candida .…”

Multi-faceted analysis provides little evidence for recurrent whole-genome duplications during hexapod evolution

“…nal.usda.gov. The genome sequence of Campodea augens is published in BioRxiv [67] and was kindly provided by the authors. The following accession numbers were used: A. pisum GCF_000142985.2 [48], A. aegypti GCF_002204515.2 [68], A. tumida GCF_001937115.1 [69], A. mellifera GCF_000002195.4 [70], Athalia rosae GCF_000344095.1 [71], Bemisia tabaci GCF_001854935.1 [72], Blatella germanica GCA_000762945.2 [46], B. mori GCF_000151625.1 [73], C. augens campodea_augens_genome_v1.0 [67], C. felis GCF_003426905.1 [74], D. melanogaster GCF_000001215.4 [75], F. candida fcand_genome.fa (Collembolomics.nl) [35], Frankliniella occidentalis GCF_000697945.2 [76], H. duospinosa GCA_002738285.1 [77], Medauroidea extradentata GCA_003012365.1 [78], O. cincta ocinc_genome.fa (Collembolomics.nl) [79], P. humanus GCF_000006295.1 [80], Pieris rapae GCF_001856805.1 [81], T. castaneum GCA_000002335.3 [82], Z. nevadensis GCA_000696155.1 [47], L. polyphemus GCF_000517525.1 [83].…”