Unprecedented reorganization of holocentric chromosomes provides insights into the enigma of lepidopteran chromosome evolution.

Hill J, Rastas P, Hornett EA, Neethiraj R, Clark N, Morehouse N, de la Paz Celorio-Mancera M, Cols JC, Dircksen H, Meslin C, Keehnen N, Pruisscher P, Sikkink K, Vives M, Vogel H, Wiklund C, Woronik A, Boggs CL, Nylin S, Wheat CW

Sci Adv 5 (6) eaau3648 [2019-06-00; online 2019-06-12]

Chromosome evolution presents an enigma in the mega-diverse Lepidoptera. Most species exhibit constrained chromosome evolution with nearly identical haploid chromosome counts and chromosome-level gene collinearity among species more than 140 million years divergent. However, a few species possess radically inflated chromosomal counts due to extensive fission and fusion events. To address this enigma of constraint in the face of an exceptional ability to change, we investigated an unprecedented reorganization of the standard lepidopteran chromosome structure in the green-veined white butterfly ( Pieris napi). We find that gene content in P. napi has been extensively rearranged in large collinear blocks, which until now have been masked by a haploid chromosome number close to the lepidopteran average. We observe that ancient chromosome ends have been maintained and collinear blocks are enriched for functionally related genes suggesting both a mechanism and a possible role for selection in determining the boundaries of these genome-wide rearrangements.

NGI Stockholm (Genomics Applications) [Service]

NGI Stockholm (Genomics Production) [Service]

National Genomics Infrastructure [Service]

PubMed 31206013

DOI 10.1126/sciadv.aau3648

Crossref 10.1126/sciadv.aau3648

pii: aau3648
pmc: PMC6561736