Canadian Forest Service Publications

The Spruce Budworm Genome: Reconstructing the Evolutionary History of Antifreeze Proteins. 2022. Béliveau, C.; Gagné, P.; Picq, S.; Vernygora, O.; Keeling, C.I.; Pinkney, K.; Doucet, D.; Wen, F.; Johnston, J. S.; Maaroufi, H.; Boyle, B.; Laroche, J.; Dewar, K.; Juretic, N.; Blackburn, G.; Nisole, A.; Brunet, B.; Brandao, M.; Lumley, L.; Duan, J.; Quan, G.; Lucarotti, C. J.; Roe, A. D.; Sperling, F.A.H.; Levesque, R.C.; Cusson M. G.B.E (Genome Biology and Evolution). volume 14 , page 1-18.

Year: 2022

Issued by: Laurentian Forestry Centre

Catalog ID: 40901

Language: English

Availability: PDF (request by e-mail)

Available from the Journal's Web site. †
DOI: 1093

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Abstract

Insects have developed various adaptations to survive harsh winter conditions. Among freeze-intolerant species, some produce “antifreeze proteins” (AFPs) that bind to nascent ice crystals and inhibit further ice growth. Such is the case of the spruce budworm, Choristoneura fumiferana (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), a destructive North American conifer pest that can withstand temperatures below −30°C. Despite the potential importance of AFPs in the adaptive diversification of Choristoneura, genomic tools to explore their origins have until now been limited. Here, we present a chromosome-scale genome assembly for C. fumiferana, which we used to conduct comparative genomic analyses aimed at reconstructing the evolutionary history of tortricid AFPs. The budworm genome features 16 genes homologous to previously reported C. fumiferana AFPs (CfAFPs), 15 of which map to a single region on chromosome 18. Fourteen of these were also detected in five congeneric species, indicating Choristoneura AFP diversification occurred before the speciation event that led to C. fumiferana. Although budworm AFPs were previously considered unique to the genus Choristoneura, a search for homologs targeting recently sequenced tortricid.