The scorpionfly (Panorpa cognata) genome highlights conserved and derived features of the peculiar Dipteran X chromosome.
Many insects carry an ancient X chromosome - the Drosophila Muller element F - that likely predates their origin. Interestingly, the X has undergone turnover in multiple fly species (Diptera) after being conserved for more than 450 MY. The long evolutionary distance between Diptera and other sequenced insect clades makes it difficult to infer what could have contributed to this sudden increase in rate of turnover. Here, we produce the first genome and transcriptome of a long overlooked sister-order to Diptera: Mecoptera. We compare the scorpionfly Panorpa cognata X-chromosome gene content, expression, and structure, to that of several Dipteran species as well as more distantly-related other insect orders (Orthoptera and Blattodea). We find high conservation of gene content between the Mecopteran X and the Dipteran Muller F element, as well as several shared biological features, such as the presence of dosage compensation and a low amount of genetic diversity, consistent with a low recombination rate. However, the two homologous X chromosomes differ strikingly in their size and number of genes they carry. Our results therefore support a common ancestry of the Mecopteran and ancestral Dipteran X chromosomes, and suggest that Muller element F shrank in size and gene content after the split of Diptera and Mecoptera, which may have contributed to its turnover in dipteran insects.