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DOI

  • Christopher B Cunningham
    Institute of Molecular Medicine and Genetics and Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, GA 30912
  • Lexiang Ji
    Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Geneva
  • R Axel W Wiberg
    University of St. Andrews
  • Jennifer Shelton
    Division of Biology & Bioinformatics Center & Arthropod Genomics Center
  • Elizabeth C McKinney
    Institute of Molecular Medicine and Genetics and Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, GA 30912
  • Darren J Parker
    University of St. Andrews
  • Richard B Meagher
    Institute of Molecular Medicine and Genetics and Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, GA 30912
  • Kyle M Benowitz
    Institute of Molecular Medicine and Genetics and Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, GA 30912
  • Eileen M Roy-Zokan
    Institute of Molecular Medicine and Genetics and Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, GA 30912
  • Michael G Ritchie
    University of St. Andrews
  • Susan J Brown
    Division of Biology & Bioinformatics Center & Arthropod Genomics Center
  • Robert J Schmitz
    Institute of Molecular Medicine and Genetics and Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, GA 30912
  • Allen J Moore
    Institute of Molecular Medicine and Genetics and Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, GA 30912

Testing for conserved and novel mechanisms underlying phenotypic evolution requires a diversity of genomes available for comparison spanning multiple independent lineages. For example, complex social behavior in insects has been investigated primarily with eusocial lineages, nearly all of which are Hymenoptera. If conserved genomic influences on sociality do exist, we need data from a wider range of taxa that also vary in their levels of sociality. Here, we present the assembled and annotated genome of the subsocial beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides, a species long used to investigate evolutionary questions of complex social behavior. We used this genome to address two questions. First, do aspects of life history, such as using a carcass to breed, predict overlap in gene models more strongly than phylogeny? We found that the overlap in gene models was similar between N. vespilloides and all other insect groups regardless of life history. Second, like other insects with highly developed social behavior but unlike other beetles, does N. vespilloides have DNA methylation? We found strong evidence for an active DNA methylation system. The distribution of methylation was similar to other insects with exons having the most methylated CpGs. Methylation status appears highly conserved; 85% of the methylated genes in N. vespilloides are also methylated in the hymentopteran Nasonia vitripennis. The addition of this genome adds a coleopteran resource to answer questions about the evolution and mechanistic basis of sociality and to address questions about the potential role of methylation in social behavior.

Keywords

  • Animals, Coleoptera/genetics, Consummatory Behavior, DNA Methylation, Evolution, Molecular, Genome, Insect, Social Behavior
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)3383-96
Number of pages14
JournalGenome Biology and Evolution
Volume7
Issue number12
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 9 Oct 2015
Externally publishedYes
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