02256nas a2200217 4500008004100000245008600041210006900127260001200196520154900208653001401757653002401771653002001795653001701815653002001832100001301852700001901865700002201884700002201906700001701928856009301945 2021 eng d00aGenome analysis of Plectus murrayi, a nematode from continental Antarctica0 aGenome analysis of IPlectus murrayiI a nematode from continental c01/20213 a

Plectus murrayi is one of the most common and locally abundant invertebrates of continental Antarctic ecosystems. Because it is readily cultured on artificial medium in the laboratory and highly tolerant to an extremely harsh environment, Plectus murrayi is emerging as a model organism for understanding the evolutionary origin and maintenance of adaptive responses to multiple environmental stressors, including freezing and desiccation. The de novo assembled genome of Plectus murrayi contains 225.741 million base pairs and a total of 14,689 predicted genes. Compared to Caenorhabditis elegans, the architectural components of Plectus murrayi are characterized by a lower number of protein-coding genes, fewer transposable elements, but more exons, than closely related taxa from less harsh environments. We compared the transcriptomes of lab-reared Plectus murrayi with wild-caught Plectus murrayi and found genes involved in growth and cellular processing were up-regulated in lab-cultured Plectus murrayi, while a few genes associated with cellular metabolism and freeze tolerance were expressed at relatively lower levels. Preliminary comparative genomic and transcriptomic analyses suggest that the observed constraints on P. murrayi genome architecture and functional gene expression, including genome decay and intron retention, may be an adaptive response to persisting in a biotically simplified, yet consistently physically harsh environment.

10agene loss10agenome architecture10agenome assembly10agenome decay10aPlectus murrayi1 aXue, Xia1 aSuvorov, Anton1 aFujimoto, Stanley1 aDilman, Adler, R.1 aAdams, Byron uhttps://academic.oup.com/g3journal/advance-article/doi/10.1093/g3journal/jkaa045/6044189