PgmNr D1435: Parthenogenomics: Assembly, annotation, and analysis of the facultative parthenogenetic fruit fly, Drosophila mercatorum.

Authors:
C. E. Stanley ¹ ; D. E. Miller ^2,3 ; T. A. Markow ^4,5 ; R. S. Hawley ^2,3 ; R. J. Kulathinal ¹

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Institutes
1) Temple University, Philadelphia, PA; 2) Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Kansas City, MO; 3) University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS; 4) 4Laboratorio Nacional de Genomica de la Biodiversidad, CINVESTAV, Irapuato, Guanajuato CP, Mexico; 5) 5Univserity of California San Diego, San Diego California, La Jolla, CA.

Keyword: adaptation

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Abstract:

Parthenogenesis, or reproduction without fertilization, provides a “last resort” method of reproduction when the availability of males is low, resulting in impaternate offspring. While parthenogenesis is extremely rare among species, Drosophila mercatorum has been long-known to be facultative parthenogenetic. To elucidate the underlying genetic basis of parthenogenesis, we generated a draft genome of both sexual and parthenogenetic strains of D. mercatorum. Here, we characterize their genomes, identify genomic variants and genes exhibiting biased expression differentiating sexual and parthenogenetic strains, and discuss the potential contribution of these variants to the parthenogenetic process.