Genome sequencing of the winged midge, Parochlus steinenii, from the Antarctic Peninsula.
In the Antarctic, only two species of Chironomidae occur naturally-the wingless midge, Belgica antarctica , and the winged midge, Parochlus steinenii . B. antarctica is an extremophile with unusual adaptations. The larvae of B. antarctica are desiccation- and freeze-tolerant and the adults are wingless. Recently, the compact genome of B. antarctica was reported and it is the first Antarctic eukaryote to be sequenced. Although P. steinenii occurs naturally in the Antarctic with B. antarctica , the larvae of P. steinenii are cold-tolerant but not freeze-tolerant and the adults are winged. Differences in adaptations in the Antarctic midges are interesting in terms of evolutionary processes within an extreme environment. Herein, we provide the genome of another Antarctic midge to help elucidate the evolution of these species.



The draft genome of P. steinenii had a total size of 138 Mbp, comprising 9513 contigs with an N50 contig size of 34,110 bp, and a GC content of 32.2%. Overall, 13,468 genes were predicted using the MAKER annotation pipeline, and gene ontology classified 10,801 (80.2%) predicted genes to a function. Compared with the assembled genome architecture of B. antarctica , that of P. steinenii was approximately 50 Mbp longer with 6.2-fold more repeat sequences, whereas gene regions were as similarly compact as in B. antarctica .



We present an annotated draft genome of the Antarctic midge, P. steinenii . The genomes of P. steinenii and B. antarctica will aid in the elucidation of evolution in harsh environments and provide new resources for functional genomic analyses of the order Diptera.
Division of Life Sciences, Korea Polar Research Institute (KOPRI), Incheon 21990, South Korea.
Sanghee
S
Kim
LabGenomics Clinical Research Institute, LabGenomics, Seongnam, Korea.
Mijin
M
Oh
Division of Life Sciences, Korea Polar Research Institute (KOPRI), Incheon 21990, South Korea.
Woongsic
W
Jung
Department of Fine Chemistry, Seoul National University of Science and Technology, Seoul 01811, South Korea.
Joonho
J
Park
Division of Life Sciences, Korea Polar Research Institute (KOPRI), Incheon 21990, South Korea.
Han-Gu
HG
Choi
Unit of Polar Genomics, Korea Polar Research Institute (KOPRI), Incheon 21990, South Korea.
Seung Chul
SC
Shin
D000222:Adaptation, Physiological / Q000235:genetics*; D000818:Animals; D000864:Antarctic Regions; D002683:Chironomidae / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D003080:Cold Temperature; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D063990:Gene Ontology; D049750:Genome, Insect / Q000235:genetics*; D019476:Insect Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D007814:Larva / Q000235:genetics; D013045:Species Specificity; D000073336:Whole Genome Sequencing / Q000379:methods*
D019476:Insect Proteins
Antarctic winged midge; Cold-tolerant; Complete mitochondrial genome; Parochlus steinenii