Heaven Thomas, Mathers Thomas C, Mugford Sam T, Jordan Anna, Lethmayer Christa, Nissinen Anne I, Høgetveit Lars-Arne, Highet Fiona, Soria-Carrasco Victor, Sumner-Kalkun Jason, Goldberg Jay K, Hogenhout Saskia A
Department of Crop Genetics, John Innes Centre, Norwich NR4 7UH, UK.
Tree of Life, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Saffron Walden CB10 1RQ, UK.
Genome Biol Evol. 2025 May 30;17(6). doi: 10.1093/gbe/evaf116.
Psyllids are major vectors of plant diseases, including Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum (CLso), the bacterial agent associated with "zebra chip" disease in potatoes and "carrot yellows" disease in carrot. Despite their agricultural significance, there is limited knowledge on the genome structure and genetic diversity of psyllids. In this study, we provide chromosome-level genome assemblies for three psyllid species known to transmit CLso: Dyspersa apicalis (carrot psyllid), Dyspersa pallida, and Trioza urticae (nettle psyllid). As D. apicalis is recognized as the primary vector of CLso by carrot growers in Northern Europe, we also resequenced populations of this species from Finland, Norway, and Austria. Genome assemblies were constructed using PacBio HiFi and Hi-C sequencing data, yielding genome sizes of 594.01 Mbp for D. apicalis; 587.80 Mbp for D. pallida; and 655.58 Mbp for T. urticae. Over 90% of sequences anchored into 13 pseudo-chromosomes per species. D. apicalis and D. pallida assemblies exhibited high completeness, capturing over 92% of conserved Hemiptera single-copy orthologs. Furthermore, we identified sequences of the primary psyllid symbiont, Candidatus Carsonella ruddii, in all three species. Gene annotations were produced for each assembly: 17,932 unique protein-coding genes were predicted for D. apicalis; 18,292 for D. pallida; and 16,007 for T. urticae. We observed significant expansions in gene families, particularly those linked to potential insecticide detoxification, within the Dyspersa lineage. Resequencing also revealed the existence of multiple subpopulations of D. apicalis across Europe. These high-quality genome resources will support future research on genome evolution, insect-plant-pest interactions, and disease management strategies.
木虱是植物病害的主要传播媒介,包括“Ca. Liberibacter solanacearum”(CLso),这种细菌与马铃薯的“斑马薯片”病和胡萝卜的“胡萝卜黄化”病有关。尽管它们在农业上具有重要意义,但关于木虱的基因组结构和遗传多样性的知识却很有限。在本研究中,我们为三种已知传播CLso的木虱物种提供了染色体水平的基因组组装:顶斑木虱(胡萝卜木虱)、苍白木虱和荨麻木虱。由于顶斑木虱被北欧的胡萝卜种植者认为是CLso的主要传播媒介,我们还对来自芬兰、挪威和奥地利的该物种群体进行了重测序。利用PacBio HiFi和Hi-C测序数据构建了基因组组装,顶斑木虱的基因组大小为594.01 Mbp;苍白木虱为587.80 Mbp;荨麻木虱为655.58 Mbp。每个物种超过90%的序列被锚定到13条假染色体上。顶斑木虱和苍白木虱的组装显示出高度的完整性,捕获了超过92%的保守半翅目单拷贝直系同源基因。此外,我们在所有三个物种中都鉴定出了主要木虱共生菌“Ca. Carsonella ruddii”的序列。为每个组装生成了基因注释:顶斑木虱预测有17,932个独特的蛋白质编码基因;苍白木虱有18,292个;荨麻木虱有16,007个。我们观察到在顶斑木虱谱系中基因家族有显著扩张,特别是那些与潜在杀虫剂解毒相关的基因家族。重测序还揭示了欧洲各地存在多个顶斑木虱亚群。这些高质量的基因组资源将支持未来关于基因组进化、昆虫-植物-害虫相互作用以及病害管理策略的研究。