Multifaceted biological insights from a draft genome sequence of the tobacco hornworm moth, Manduca sexta

• DOI: 10.1016/j.ibmb.2016.07.005
• Publication Date: 2016-08-12T22:26:28Z
• Authors: Michael R. Kanost; Estela L. Arrese; Xiaolong Cao; Yun-Ru Chen; Sanjay Chellapilla; Marian R. Goldsmith; Ewald Grosse-Wilde; David G. Heckel; Nicolae Herndon; Haobo Jiang; Alexie Papanicolaou; Jiaxin Qu; Jose L. Soulages; Heiko Vogel; James Walters; Robert M. Waterhouse; Seung-Joon Ahn; Francisca C. Almeida; Chunju An; Peshtewani Aqrawi; Anne Bretschneider; William B. Bryant; Sascha Bucks; Hsu Chao; Germain Chevignon; Jayne M. Christen; David F. Clarke; Neal T. Dittmer; Laura C.F. Ferguson; Spyridoula Garavelou; Karl H.J. Gordon; Ramesh T. Gunaratna; Yi Han; Frank Hauser; Yan He; Hanna Heidel-Fischer; Ariana Hirsh; Yingxia Hu; Hongbo Jiang; Divya Kalra; Christian Klinner; Christopher König; Christie Kovar; Ashley R. Kroll; Suyog S. Kuwar; Sandy L. Lee; Rüdiger Lehman; Kai Li; Zhaofei Li; Hanquan Liang; Shanna Lovelace; Zhiqiang Lu; Jennifer H. Mansf...; Kyle J. McCulloch; Tittu Mathew; Brian Morton; Donna M. Muzny; David Neunemann; Fiona Ongeri; Yannick Pauchet; Ling-Ling Pu; Ioannis Pyrousis; Xiang-Jun Rao; Amanda Redding; Charles Roesel; Alejandro Sanchez...; Sarah Schaack; Aditi Shukla; Guillaume Tetreau; Yang Wang; Guang-Hua Xiong; Walther Traut; Tom K. Walsh; Kim C. Worley; Di Wu; Wenbi Wu; Yuan-Qing Wu; Xiufeng Zhang; Zhen Zou; Hannah Zucker; Adriana D. Briscoe; Thorsten Burmester; Rollie J. Clem; René Feyereisen; Cornelis J.P. Gri...; Stavros J. Hamodr...; Bill S. Hansson; Elisabeth Huguet; Lars S. Jermiin; Que Lan; Herman K. Lehman; Marce Lorenzen; Hans Merzendorfer; Ioannis Michalopo...; David B. Morton; Subbaratnam Muthu...; John G. Oakeshott; Will Palmer; Yoonseong Park; A. Lorena Passarelli; Julio Rozas; Lawrence M. Schwartz; Wendy Smith; Agnes Southgate; Andreas Vilcinskas; Richard Vogt; Ping Wang; John Werren; Xiao-Qiang Yu; Jing-Jiang Zhou; Susan J. Brown; Steven E. Scherer; Stephen Richards; Gary W. Blissard
• Keywords: Genome, Insect; 590; Gene Expression; Moth; Manduca; ddc:576.5; insects; 970106 - Expanding Knowledge in the Biological Sciences; Innate immunity; 0303 health sciences; Genome; Pupa; Biological Sciences; Lepidoptera; Larva; [SDV.BBM.GTP] Life Sciences [q-bio]/Biochemistry, Molecular Biology/Genomics [q-bio.GN]; Lepidòpters; Sequence Analysis; 570; 060408 - Genomics; 1.1 Normal biological development and functioning; Bioinformatics and Computational Biology; 612; [SDV.BBM.GTP]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Biochemistry; Synteny; 576; Medicinal and Biomolecular Chemistry; 03 medical and health sciences; Underpinning research; [SDV.BBM.GTP]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Biochemistry, Molecular Biology/Genomics [q-bio.GN]; moths; Tobacco; Journal Article; Genetics; biochemistry; Animals; Genomes; Molecular Biology/Genomics [q-bio.GN]; Tobacco hornworm; Genètica animal; Gene Expression Profiling; DNA; Sequence Analysis, DNA; Insect biochemistry; Biochemistry and cell biology; Generic health relevance; Biochemistry and Cell Biology; Animal genetics; Insect; Zoology; Entomology

Manduca sexta, known as the tobacco hornworm or Carolina sphinx moth, is a lepidopteran insect that is used extensively as a model system for research in insect biochemistry, physiology, neurobiology, development, and immunity. One important benefit of this species as an experimental model is its extremely large size, reaching more than 10 g in the larval stage. M. sexta larvae feed on solanaceous plants and thus must tolerate a substantial challenge from plant allelochemicals, including nicotine. We report the sequence and annotation of the M. sexta genome, and a survey of gene expression in various tissues and developmental stages. The Msex_1.0 genome assembly resulted in a total genome size of 419.4 Mbp. Repetitive sequences accounted for 25.8% of the assembled genome. The official gene set is comprised of 15,451 protein-coding genes, of which 2498 were manually curated. Extensive RNA-seq data from many tissues and developmental stages were used to improve gene models and for insights into gene expression patterns. Genome wide synteny analysis indicated a high level of macrosynteny in the Lepidoptera. Annotation and analyses were carried out for gene families involved in a wide spectrum of biological processes, including apoptosis, vacuole sorting, growth and development, structures of exoskeleton, egg shells, and muscle, vision, chemosensation, ion channels, signal transduction, neuropeptide signaling, neurotransmitter synthesis and transport, nicotine tolerance, lipid metabolism, and immunity. This genome sequence, annotation, and analysis provide an important new resource from a well-studied model insect species and will facilitate further biochemical and mechanistic experimental studies of many biological systems in insects.