New genomic resources inform transcriptomic responses to heavy metal toxins in the common Eastern bumble bee Bombus impatiens.

Autor: Toth AL; Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA. amytoth@iastate.edu.; Department of Plant Pathology, Entomology, and Microbiology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA. amytoth@iastate.edu., Wyatt CDR; Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research, University College, London, UK., Masonbrink RE; Genome Informatics Facility, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA., Geist KS; Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA., Fortune R; Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA., Scott SB; Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK., Favreau E; Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research, University College, London, UK., Rehan SM; Department of Biology, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada., Sumner S; Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research, University College, London, UK., Gardiner MM; Department of Entomology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA., Sivakoff FS; Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, The Ohio State University, Marion, OH, USA.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: BMC genomics [BMC Genomics] 2024 Nov 19; Vol. 25 (1), pp. 1106. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Nov 19.
DOI: 10.1186/s12864-024-11040-4
Abstrakt: Background: The common Eastern bumble bee Bombus impatiens is native to North America and is the main commercially reared pollinator in the Americas. There has been extensive research on this species related to its social biology, applied pollination, and genetics. The genome of this species was previously sequenced using short-read technology, but recent technological advances provide an opportunity for substantial improvements. This species is common in agricultural and urban environments, and heavy metal contaminants produced by industrial processes can negatively impact it. To begin to identify possible mechanisms underlying responses to these toxins, we used RNA-sequencing to examine how exposure to a cocktail of four heavy metals at field-realistic levels from industrial areas affected B. impatiens worker gene expression.
Results: PacBio long-read sequencing resulted in 544x coverage of the genome, and HiC technology was used to map chromatin contacts. Using Juicer and manual curation, the genome was scaffolded into 18 main pseudomolecules, representing a high quality, chromosome-level assembly. The sequenced genome size is 266.6 Mb and BRAKER3 annotation produced 13,938 annotated genes. The genome and annotation show high completeness, with ≥ 96% of conserved Eukaryota and Hymenoptera genes present in both the assembly and annotated genes. RNA sequencing of heavy metal exposed workers revealed 603 brain and 34 fat body differentially expressed genes. In the brain, differentially expressed genes had biological functions related to chaperone activity and protein folding.
Conclusions: Our data represent a large improvement in genomic resources for this important model species-with 10% more genome coverage than previously available, and a high-quality assembly into 18 chromosomes, the expected karyotype for this species. The new gene annotation added 777 new genes. Altered gene expression in response to heavy metal exposure suggests a possible mechanism for how these urban toxins are negatively impacting bee health, specifically by altering protein folding in the brain. Overall, these data are useful as a general high quality genomic resource for this species, and provide insight into mechanisms underlying tissue-specific toxicological responses of bumble bees to heavy metals.
Competing Interests: Declarations Ethics approval and consent to participate No permissions were necessary to collect the specimens in this study. Permission to access the field site (Horticulture Research Station) was provided by Iowa State University Farms. Consent for publication not applicable. Competing interests The authors declare no competing interests.
(© 2024. The Author(s).)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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