TY - JOUR

T1 - Genome streamlining in a minute herbivore that manipulates its host plant

AU - Greenhalgh, Robert

AU - Dermauw, Wannes

AU - Glas, Joris J.

AU - Rombauts, Stephane

AU - Wybouw, Nicky

AU - Thomas, Jainy

AU - Alba, Juan M.

AU - Pritham, Ellen J.

AU - Legarrea, Saioa

AU - Feyereisen, René

AU - Van de Peer, Yves

AU - Van Leeuwen, Thomas

AU - Clark, Richard M.

AU - Kant, Merijn R.

PY - 2020

Y1 - 2020

N2 - The tomato russet mite, Aculops lycopersici, is among the smallest animals on earth. It is a worldwide pest on tomato and can potently suppress the host’s natural resistance. We sequenced its genome, the first of an eriophyoid, and explored whether there are genomic features associated with the mite’s minute size and lifestyle. At only 32.5 Mb, the genome is the smallest yet reported for any arthropod and, reminiscent of microbial eukaryotes, exceptionally streamlined. It has few transposable elements, tiny intergenic regions, and is remarkably intron-poor, as more than 80% of coding genes are intronless. Furthermore, in accordance with ecological specialization theory, this defense-suppressing herbivore has extremely reduced environmental response gene families such as those involved in chemoreception and detoxification. Other losses associate with this species’ highly derived body plan. Our findings accelerate the understanding of evolutionary forces underpinning metazoan life at the limits of small physical and genome size.

AB - The tomato russet mite, Aculops lycopersici, is among the smallest animals on earth. It is a worldwide pest on tomato and can potently suppress the host’s natural resistance. We sequenced its genome, the first of an eriophyoid, and explored whether there are genomic features associated with the mite’s minute size and lifestyle. At only 32.5 Mb, the genome is the smallest yet reported for any arthropod and, reminiscent of microbial eukaryotes, exceptionally streamlined. It has few transposable elements, tiny intergenic regions, and is remarkably intron-poor, as more than 80% of coding genes are intronless. Furthermore, in accordance with ecological specialization theory, this defense-suppressing herbivore has extremely reduced environmental response gene families such as those involved in chemoreception and detoxification. Other losses associate with this species’ highly derived body plan. Our findings accelerate the understanding of evolutionary forces underpinning metazoan life at the limits of small physical and genome size.

KW - Acari

KW - Genome reduction

KW - Horizontal gene transfer

KW - Miniaturization

KW - Proboscipedia

KW - Reverse transcriptase-mediated intron loss

U2 - 10.7554/eLife.56689

DO - 10.7554/eLife.56689

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 33095158

AN - SCOPUS:85096598302

VL - 9

JO - eLife

JF - eLife

SN - 2050-084X

ER -