Huang Zekun, Huang Wanlong, Liu Xiaolin, Han Zhaofang, Liu Guangjian, Boamah Grace Afumwaa, Wang Yi, Yu Feng, Gan Yang, Xiao Qizhen, Luo Xuan, Chen Nan, Liu Meng, You Weiwei, Ke Caihuan
State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China.
College of Ocean and Earth Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China.
Mol Ecol Resour. 2022 Jan;22(1):15-27. doi: 10.1111/1755-0998.13439. Epub 2021 Jun 26.
The nautilus, commonly known as a "living fossil," is endangered and may be at risk of extinction. The lack of genomic information hinders a thorough understanding of its biology and evolution, which can shed light on the conservation of this endangered species. Here, we report the first high-quality chromosome-level genome assembly of Nautilus pompilius. The assembled genome size comprised 785.15 Mb. Comparative genomic analyses indicated that transposable elements (TEs) and large-scale genome reorganizations may have driven lineage-specific evolution in the cephalopods. Remarkably, evolving conserved genes and recent TE insertion activities were identified in N. pompilius, and we speculate that these findings reflect the strong adaptability and long-term survival of the nautilus. We also identified gene families that are potentially responsible for specific adaptation and evolution events. Our study provides unprecedented insights into the specialized biology and evolution of N. pompilius, and the results serve as an important resource for future conservation genomics of the nautilus and closely related species.
鹦鹉螺通常被称为“活化石”，它濒临灭绝，可能面临灭绝风险。缺乏基因组信息阻碍了对其生物学和进化的全面理解，而这有助于阐明对这种濒危物种的保护。在此，我们报告了首个高质量的鹦鹉螺染色体水平基因组组装。组装后的基因组大小为785.15兆字节。比较基因组分析表明，转座元件（TEs）和大规模基因组重组可能推动了头足类动物的谱系特异性进化。值得注意的是，在鹦鹉螺中发现了不断进化的保守基因和近期的TE插入活动，我们推测这些发现反映了鹦鹉螺强大的适应性和长期生存能力。我们还鉴定出了可能负责特定适应和进化事件的基因家族。我们的研究为鹦鹉螺的特殊生物学和进化提供了前所未有的见解，研究结果为未来鹦鹉螺及近缘物种的保护基因组学提供了重要资源。
