Phylogenetic origin and diversification of RNAi pathway genes in insects

TY - JOUR

T1 - Phylogenetic origin and diversification of RNAi pathway genes in insects

AU - Dowling, Daniel

AU - Pauli, Thomas

AU - Donath, Alexander

AU - Meusemann, Karen

AU - Podsiadlowski, Lars

AU - Petersen, Malte

AU - Peters, Ralph S.

AU - Mayer, Christoph

AU - Liu, Shanlin

AU - Zhou, Xin

AU - Misof, Bernhard

AU - Niehuis, Oliver

PY - 2016

Y1 - 2016

N2 - RNAinterference (RNAi) refers tothe set ofmolecular processes foundin eukaryotic organisms in which smallRNAmolecules mediate the silencing or down-regulation of target genes. In insects, RNAi serves a number of functions, including regulation of endogenous genes, anti-viral defense, and defense against transposable elements. Despite being well studied in model organisms, such as Drosophila, the distribution of core RNAi pathway genes and their evolution in insects is not well understood. Here we present the most comprehensive overview of the distribution and diversity of core RNAi pathway genes across 100 insect species, encompassing all currently recognized insect orders. We inferred the phylogenetic origin of insect-specific RNAi pathway genes and also identified several hitherto unrecorded gene expansions using whole-body transcriptome data from the international 1KITE (1000 Insect Transcriptome Evolution) project aswell asother resources such as i5K(5000InsectGenomeProject). Specifically,we traced the origin of the double stranded RNAbinding protein R2D2 to the lastcommon ancestor of winged insects (Pterygota), the loss of Sid-1/ Tag-130 orthologs in Antliophora (fleas, flies and relatives, and scorpionflies in a broad sense), and confirm previous evidence for the splitting of the Argonaute proteins Aubergine and Piwi in Brachyceran flies (Diptera, Brachycera). Our study offers new reference points for future experimental research on RNAi-related pathway genes in insects.

AB - RNAinterference (RNAi) refers tothe set ofmolecular processes foundin eukaryotic organisms in which smallRNAmolecules mediate the silencing or down-regulation of target genes. In insects, RNAi serves a number of functions, including regulation of endogenous genes, anti-viral defense, and defense against transposable elements. Despite being well studied in model organisms, such as Drosophila, the distribution of core RNAi pathway genes and their evolution in insects is not well understood. Here we present the most comprehensive overview of the distribution and diversity of core RNAi pathway genes across 100 insect species, encompassing all currently recognized insect orders. We inferred the phylogenetic origin of insect-specific RNAi pathway genes and also identified several hitherto unrecorded gene expansions using whole-body transcriptome data from the international 1KITE (1000 Insect Transcriptome Evolution) project aswell asother resources such as i5K(5000InsectGenomeProject). Specifically,we traced the origin of the double stranded RNAbinding protein R2D2 to the lastcommon ancestor of winged insects (Pterygota), the loss of Sid-1/ Tag-130 orthologs in Antliophora (fleas, flies and relatives, and scorpionflies in a broad sense), and confirm previous evidence for the splitting of the Argonaute proteins Aubergine and Piwi in Brachyceran flies (Diptera, Brachycera). Our study offers new reference points for future experimental research on RNAi-related pathway genes in insects.

KW - Argonaute

KW - Dicer

KW - Evolution

KW - R2d2

KW - RNA interference

U2 - 10.1093/gbe/evw281

DO - 10.1093/gbe/evw281

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 28062756

AN - SCOPUS:85014361427

SN - 1759-6653

VL - 8

SP - 3784

EP - 3793

JO - Genome Biology and Evolution

JF - Genome Biology and Evolution

IS - 12

ER -