Neo-sex chromosomes and adaptive potential in tortricid pests

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 110; no. 17; pp. 6931 - 6936
• Main Authors: Nguyen, Petr, Sýkorová, Miroslava, Šíchova, Jindra, Kůta, Václav, Daliková, Martina, Frydrychová, Radmila Čapková, Neven, Lisa G., Sahara, Ken, Marec, František
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States National Academy of Sciences 23.04.2013; National Acad Sciences
• Subjects: Adaptation, Biological - genetics; Animals; Base Sequence; Biological Sciences; Butterflies & moths; Chromosomes; Chromosomes, Artificial, Bacterial; Evolution; Evolution, Molecular; Flowers & plants; Gene dosage; Genes; Genomes; In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; Metabolites; Molecular Sequence Data; Moths; Moths - genetics; Pests; Physical Chromosome Mapping; Resistance to control; Sequence Analysis, DNA; Sex chromosomes; Sex Chromosomes - genetics; Speciation; Translocation, Genetic - genetics; Z chromosome
• ISSN: 0027-8424; 1091-6490
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1220372110

Changes in genome architecture often have a significant effect on ecological specialization and speciation. This effect may be further enhanced by involvement of sex chromosomes playing a disproportionate role in reproductive isolation. We have physically mapped the Z chromosome of the major pome fruit pest, the codling moth, Cydia pomonella (Tortricidae), and show that it arose by fusion between an ancestral Z chromosome and an autosome corresponding to chromosome 15 in the Bombyx mori reference genome. We further show that the fusion originated in a common ancestor of the main tortricid subfamilies, Olethreutinae and Tortricinae, comprising almost 700 pest species worldwide. The Z–autosome fusion brought two major genes conferring insecticide resistance and clusters of genes involved in detoxification of plant secondary metabolites under sex-linked inheritance. We suggest that this fusion significantly increased the adaptive potential of tortricid moths and thus contributed to their radiation and subsequent speciation.