Genome Sequence of the Pea Aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum

Abstract

The genome of the pea aphid shows remarkable levels of gene duplication and equally remarkable gene absences that shed light on aspects of aphid biology, most especially its symbiosis with Buchnera.

Abstract

Aphids are important agricultural pests and also biological models for studies of insect-plant interactions, symbiosis, virus vectoring, and the developmental causes of extreme phenotypic plasticity. Here we present the 464 Mb draft genome assembly of the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum. This first published whole genome sequence of a basal hemimetabolous insect provides an outgroup to the multiple published genomes of holometabolous insects. Pea aphids are host-plant specialists, they can reproduce both sexually and asexually, and they have coevolved with an obligate bacterial symbiont. Here we highlight findings from whole genome analysis that may be related to these unusual biological features. These findings include discovery of extensive gene duplication in more than 2000 gene families as well as loss of evolutionarily conserved genes. Gene family expansions relative to other published genomes include genes involved in chromatin modification, miRNA synthesis, and sugar transport. Gene losses include genes central to the IMD immune pathway, selenoprotein utilization, purine salvage, and the entire urea cycle. The pea aphid genome reveals that only a limited number of genes have been acquired from bacteria; thus the reduced gene count of Buchnera does not reflect gene transfer to the host genome. The inventory of metabolic genes in the pea aphid genome suggests that there is extensive metabolite exchange between the aphid and Buchnera, including sharing of amino acid biosynthesis between the aphid and Buchnera. The pea aphid genome provides a foundation for post-genomic studies of fundamental biological questions and applied agricultural problems.

Author Summary

Aphids are common pests of crops and ornamental plants. Facilitated by their ancient association with intracellular symbiotic bacteria that synthesize essential amino acids, aphids feed on phloem (sap). Exploitation of a diversity of long-lived woody and short-lived herbaceous hosts by many aphid species is a result of specializations that allow aphids to discover and exploit suitable host plants. Such specializations include production by a single genotype of multiple alternative phenotypes including asexual, sexual, winged, and unwinged forms. We have generated a draft genome sequence of the pea aphid, an aphid that is a model for the study of symbiosis, development, and host plant specialization. Some of the many highlights of our genome analysis include an expanded total gene set with remarkable levels of gene duplication, as well as aphid-lineage-specific gene losses. We find that the pea aphid genome contains all genes required for epigenetic regulation by methylation, that genes encoding the synthesis of a number of essential amino acids are distributed between the genomes of the pea aphid and its symbiont, Buchnera aphidicola, and that many genes encoding immune system components are absent. These genome data will form the basis for future aphid research and have already underpinned a variety of genome-wide approaches to understanding aphid biology.