A linkage-based genome assembly for the mosquito aedes albopictus and identification of chromosomal regions affecting diapause
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2-1-2021
Abstract
The Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus, is an invasive vector mosquito of substantial public health concern. The large genome size (similar to 1.19-1.28 Gb by cytofluorometric estimates), comprised of similar to 68% repetitive DNA sequences, has made it difficult to produce a high-quality genome assembly for this species. We constructed a high-density linkage map for Ae. albopictus based on 111,328 informative SNPs obtained by RNAseq. We then performed a linkage-map anchored reassembly of AalbF2, the genome assembly produced by Palatini et al. (2020). Our reassembled genome sequence, AalbF3, represents several improvements relative to AalbF2. First, the size of the AalbF3 assembly is 1.45 Gb, almost half the size of AalbF2. Furthermore, relative to AalbF2, AalbF3 contains a higher proportion of complete and single-copy BUSCO genes (84.3%) and a higher proportion of aligned RNAseq reads that map concordantly to a single location of the genome (46%). We demonstrate the utility of AalbF3 by using it as a reference for a bulk-segregant-based comparative genomics analysis that identifies chromosomal regions with clusters of candidate SNPs putatively associated with photoperiodic diapause, a crucial ecological adaptation underpinning the rapid range expansion and climatic adaptation of A. albopictus.
Keywords
Aedes albopictus, Mosquito genome, Linkage map, Diapause
Divisions
fac_med
Funders
US National Institutes of Health [R15AI111328-01],Davis Family Endowment,Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation
Publication Title
Insects
Volume
12
Issue
2
Publisher
MDPI
Publisher Location
ST ALBAN-ANLAGE 66, CH-4052 BASEL, SWITZERLAND