Haplotype divergence supports long-term asexuality in the oribatid mite Oppiella nova

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  • Alexander Brandt
    University of Göttingen
  • Patrick Tran Van
    University of Lausanne
  • Christian Bluhm
    University of Göttingen
  • Yoann Anselmetti
    Group Phylogeny and Molecular Evolution
  • Zoé Dumas
    University of Lausanne
  • Emeric Figuet
    Group Phylogeny and Molecular Evolution
  • Clémentine M François
    Group Phylogeny and Molecular Evolution
  • Nicolas Galtier
    Group Phylogeny and Molecular Evolution
  • Bastian Heimburger
    University of Göttingen
  • Kamil S Jaron
    University of Lausanne
  • Marjorie Labédan
    University of Lausanne
  • Mark Maraun
    University of Göttingen
  • Darren J Parker
    University of LausanneSwiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Geneva
  • Marc Robinson-Rechavi
    University of Lausanne
  • Ina Schaefer
    University of Göttingen
  • Paul Simion
    Group Phylogeny and Molecular Evolution
  • Stefan Scheu
    University of Göttingen
  • Tanja Schwander
    University of Lausanne
  • Jens Bast
    University of Lausanne

Sex strongly impacts genome evolution via recombination and segregation. In the absence of these processes, haplotypes within lineages of diploid organisms are predicted to accumulate mutations independently of each other and diverge over time. This so-called "Meselson effect" is regarded as a strong indicator of the long-term evolution under obligate asexuality. Here, we present genomic and transcriptomic data of three populations of the asexual oribatid mite species Oppiella nova and its sexual relative Oppiella subpectinata We document strikingly different patterns of haplotype divergence between the two species, strongly supporting Meselson effect-like evolution and long-term asexuality in O. nova: I) variation within individuals exceeds variation between populations in O. nova but vice versa in O. subpectinata; II) two O. nova sublineages feature a high proportion of lineage-specific heterozygous single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), indicating that haplotypes continued to diverge after lineage separation; III) the deepest split in gene trees generally separates the two haplotypes in O. nova, but populations in O. subpectinata; and IV) the topologies of the two haplotype trees match each other. Our findings provide positive evidence for the absence of canonical sex over evolutionary time in O. nova and suggest that asexual oribatid mites can escape the dead-end fate usually associated with asexual lineages.

Keywords

  • Acari/genetics, Animals, Evolution, Molecular, Genetic Variation/genetics, Haplotypes/genetics, Mites/genetics, Phylogeny, Reproduction, Asexual/genetics
Original languageEnglish
JournalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Volume118
Issue number38
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 21 Sept 2021
Externally publishedYes
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