title: The genome of the fire ant Solenopsis invicta.
abstract: Ants have evolved very complex societies and are key ecosystem members. Some ants, such as the fire ant Solenopsis invicta, are also major pests. Here, we present a draft genome of S. invicta, assembled from Roche 454 and Illumina sequencing reads obtained from a focal haploid male and his brothers. We used comparative genomic methods to obtain insight into the unique features of the S. invicta genome. For example, we found that this genome harbors four adjacent copies of vitellogenin. A phylogenetic analysis revealed that an ancestral vitellogenin gene first underwent a duplication that was followed by possibly independent duplications of each of the daughter vitellogenins. The vitellogenin genes have undergone subfunctionalization with queen- and worker-specific expression, possibly reflecting differential selection acting on the queen and worker castes. Additionally, we identified more than 400 putative olfactory receptors of which at least 297 are intact. This represents the largest repertoire reported so far in insects. S. invicta also harbors an expansion of a specific family of lipid-processing genes, two putative orthologs to the transformer/feminizer sex differentiation gene, a functional DNA methylation system, and a single putative telomerase ortholog. EST data indicate that this S. invicta telomerase ortholog has at least four spliceforms that differ in their use of two sets of mutually exclusive exons. Some of these and other unique aspects of the fire ant genome are likely linked to the complex social behavior of this species.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland. yannick.wurm@unil.ch
authors.forename: Yannick
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wurm
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Oksana
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Riba-Grognuz
authors.forename: Miguel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Corona
authors.forename: Sanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nygaard
authors.forename: Brendan G
authors.initials: BG
authors.lastname: Hunt
authors.forename: Krista K
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Ingram
authors.forename: Laurent
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Falquet
authors.forename: Mingkwan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nipitwattanaphon
authors.forename: Dietrich
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gotzek
authors.forename: Michiel B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Dijkstra
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Oettler
authors.forename: Fabien
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Comtesse
authors.forename: Cheng-Jen
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Shih
authors.forename: Wen-Jer
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Chin-Cheng
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Jerome
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: Emmanuel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Beaudoing
authors.forename: Sylvain
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pradervand
authors.forename: Volker
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Flegel
authors.forename: Erin D
authors.initials: ED
authors.lastname: Cook
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fabbretti
authors.forename: Heinz
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Stockinger
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Long
authors.forename: William G
authors.initials: WG
authors.lastname: Farmerie
authors.forename: Jane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Oakey
authors.forename: Jacobus J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Boomsma
authors.forename: Pekka
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pamilo
authors.forename: Soojin V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Yi
authors.forename: Jürgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Heinze
authors.forename: Michael A D
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Goodisman
authors.forename: Laurent
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Farinelli
authors.forename: Keith
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Harshman
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hulo
authors.forename: Lorenzo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cerutti
authors.forename: Ioannis
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Xenarios
authors.forename: Dewayne
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Shoemaker
authors.forename: Laurent
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Keller
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001000:Ants / Q000235:genetics*; D001483:Base Sequence; D019295:Computational Biology; D019175:DNA Methylation; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D020224:Expressed Sequence Tags; D049750:Genome, Insect / Q000235:genetics*; D023281:Genomics / Q000379:methods*; D006608:Hierarchy, Social; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D018035:Receptors, Odorant / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D014819:Vitellogenins / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D018035:Receptors, Odorant; D014819:Vitellogenins