Departamento de Genética e Biologia Evolutiva, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade São Paulo, 277 Rua do Matão, Cidade Universitária, São Paulo 05508-090, Brazil.
Departamento de Zoologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, 101 Rua do Matão, Cidade Universitária, São Paulo 05508-090, Brazil.
Gigascience. 2022 May 17;11. doi: 10.1093/gigascience/giac036.
Medusozoa is a widely distributed ancient lineage that harbors one-third of Cnidaria diversity divided into 4 classes. This clade is characterized by the succession of stages and modes of reproduction during metagenic lifecycles, and includes some of the most plastic body plans and life cycles among animals. The characterization of traditional genomic features, such as chromosome numbers and genome sizes, was rather overlooked in Medusozoa and many evolutionary questions still remain unanswered. Modern genomic DNA sequencing in this group started in 2010 with the publication of the Hydra vulgaris genome and has experienced an exponential increase in the past 3 years. Therefore, an update of the state of Medusozoa genomics is warranted. We reviewed different sources of evidence, including cytogenetic records and high-throughput sequencing projects. We focused on 4 main topics that would be relevant for the broad Cnidaria research community: (i) taxonomic coverage of genomic information; (ii) continuity, quality, and completeness of high-throughput sequencing datasets; (iii) overview of the Medusozoa specific research questions approached with genomics; and (iv) the accessibility of data and metadata. We highlight a lack of standardization in genomic projects and their reports, and reinforce a series of recommendations to enhance future collaborative research.
后生动物是一个广泛分布的古老谱系，拥有三分之一的刺胞动物多样性，分为 4 个纲。这个类群的特征是在后生生活史中阶段和繁殖方式的连续交替，包括动物中最具可塑性的身体计划和生命周期。后生动物的传统基因组特征（如染色体数目和基因组大小）的特征描述相当被忽视，许多进化问题仍然没有答案。2010 年，随着 Hydra vulgaris 基因组的发表，该组开始进行现代基因组 DNA 测序，在过去 3 年中经历了指数级增长。因此，后生动物基因组学的现状需要更新。我们回顾了不同的证据来源，包括细胞遗传学记录和高通量测序项目。我们关注了对广泛的刺胞动物研究界有意义的 4 个主要主题：（i）基因组信息的分类学覆盖范围；（ii）高通量测序数据集的连续性、质量和完整性；（iii）用基因组学方法解决后生动物特定研究问题的概述；以及（iv）数据和元数据的可访问性。我们强调了基因组项目及其报告缺乏标准化，并加强了一系列建议，以增强未来的合作研究。
