A de novo transcriptional atlas in Danaus plexippus reveals variability in dosage compensation across tissues
Ranz JM, González PM, Clifton BD and others. Communications biology, June 2021.
Read the paper Free to read · doi:10.1038/s42003-021-02335-3
What this paper is about
A genome assembly from a non-migratory Mexican monarch population, plus RNA sequencing of 14 samples to map which genes are switched on at each stage of life.
Two thirds of genes change expression across the life cycle. Male-biased expression was four times as common as female-biased, and dosage compensation on the Z chromosome varied between tissues.
Summarised here from the abstract below. Not the authors’ words.
Abstract
A detailed knowledge of gene function in the monarch butterfly is still lacking. Here we generate a genome assembly from a Mexican nonmigratory population and used RNA-seq data from 14 biological samples for gene annotation and to construct an atlas portraying the breadth of gene expression during most of the monarch life cycle. Two thirds of the genes show expression changes, with long noncoding RNAs being particularly finely regulated during adulthood, and male-biased expression being four times more common than female-biased. The two portions of the monarch heterochromosome Z, one ancestral to the Lepidoptera and the other resulting from a chromosomal fusion, display distinct association with sex-biased expression, reflecting sample-dependent incompleteness or absence of dosage compensation in the ancestral but not the novel portion of the Z. This study presents extended genomic and transcriptomic resources that will facilitate a better understanding of the monarch's adaptation to a changing environment.
Abstract reproduced from the published paper, which is licensed CC BY. Copyright remains with the authors.
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