Draft Genome of the Red Harvester Ant Pogonomyrmex barbatus

Authors

• Chris R. Smith, Earlham College
• Christopher D. Smith, San Francisco State University
• Hugh M. Robertson, University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign
• Martin Helmkampf, Arizona State University
• Aleksey Zimin, University of Maryland, College Park
• Mark Yandall, University of Utah
• Carson Holt, University of Utah
• Hao Hu, University of Utah
• Ehab Abouheif, McGill University
• Richard Benton, University of Lausanne
• Elizabeth Cash, Arizona State University
• Vincent Croset, University of Lausanne
• Cameron R. Currie, United States Department of Energy, Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center
• Eran Elhaik, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
• Christine G. Elsik, Georgetown UniversityFollow
• Marie-Julie Favé, McGill University
• Vilaiwan Fernandes, McGill University
• Joshua D. Gibson, Arizona State University
• Dan Graur, University of Houston
• Wulfila Gronenberg, University of Arizona
• Kirk J. Grubbs, United States Department of Energy, Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center
• Darren E. Hagen, Georgetown University
• Ana Sofia Ibarraran Viniegra, McGill University
• Brian R. Johnson, University of California, Berkeley
• Reed M. Johnson, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
• Abderrahman Khila, McGill University
• Jay W. Kim, San Francisco State University
• Kaitlyn A, Mathis, University of California, Berkeley
• Monica C. Munoz-Torres, Georgetown University
• Marguerite C. Murphy, San Francisco State University
• Julie A. Mustard, Arizona State University
• Rin Nakamura, San Francisco State University
• Oliver Niehuis, Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig, Bonn, Germany
• Surabhi Nigam, San Francisco State University
• Rick P. Overson, Arizona State University
• Jennifer E. Placek, San Francisco State University
• Rajendhran Rajakumar, McGill University
• Justin T. Reese, Georgetown University
• Garret Suen, United States Department of Energy, Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center
• Shu Tao, Georgetown University
• Candice W. Torres, University of California, Berkeley
• Neil D. Tsutsui, University of California, Berkeley
• Lumi Viljakainen, Cornell University
• Florian Wolschin, Arizona State University
• Jürgen Gadau, Arizona State University

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

4-2011

Citation

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (April 5, 2011) 108(14): 5,667–5,672

doi: 10.1073/pnas.1007901108

Includes supplemental appendix (115 pages)

Comments

United States government work

Abstract

We report the draft genome sequence of the red harvester ant, Pogonomyrmex barbatus. The genome was sequenced using 454 pyrosequencing, and the current assembly and annotation were completed in less than 1 y. Analyses of conserved gene groups (more than 1,200 manually annotated genes to date) suggest a high-quality assembly and annotation comparable to recently sequenced insect genomes using Sanger sequencing. The red harvester ant is a model for studying reproductive division of labor, phenotypic plasticity, and sociogenomics. Although the genome of P. barbatus is similar to other sequenced hymenopterans (Apis mellifera and Nasonia vitripennis) in GC content and compositional organization, and possesses a complete CpG methylation toolkit, its predicted genomic CpG content differs markedly from the other hymenopterans. Gene networks involved in generating key differences between the queen and worker castes (e.g. wings and ovaries) show signatures of increased methylation and suggest that ants and bees may have independently co-opted the same gene regulatory mechanisms for reproductive division of labor. Gene family expansions (e.g. 344 functional odorant receptors) and pseudogene accumulation in chemoreception and P450 genes compared with A. mellifera and N. vitripennis are consistent with major life-history changes during the adaptive radiation of Pogonomyrmex spp., perhaps in parallel with the development of the North American deserts.