Dataset Information

From e-voucher to genomic data: Preserving archive specimens as demonstrated with medically important mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) and kissing bugs (Hemiptera: Reduviidae).

ABSTRACT: Scientific collections such as the U.S. National Museum (USNM) are critical to filling knowledge gaps in molecular systematics studies. The global taxonomic impediment has resulted in a reduction of expert taxonomists generating new collections of rare or understudied taxa and these large historic collections may be the only reliable source of material for some taxa. Integrated systematics studies using both morphological examinations and DNA sequencing are often required for resolving many taxonomic issues but as DNA methods often require partial or complete destruction of a sample, there are many factors to consider before implementing destructive sampling of specimens within scientific collections. We present a methodology for the use of archive specimens that includes two crucial phases: 1) thoroughly documenting specimens destined for destructive sampling-a process called electronic vouchering, and 2) the pipeline used for whole genome sequencing of archived specimens, from extraction of genomic DNA to assembly of putative genomes with basic annotation. The process is presented for eleven specimens from two different insect subfamilies of medical importance to humans: Anophelinae (Diptera: Culicidae)-mosquitoes and Triatominae (Hemiptera: Reduviidae)-kissing bugs. Assembly of whole mitochondrial genome sequences of all 11 specimens along with the results of an ortholog search and BLAST against the NCBI nucleotide database are also presented.

SUBMITTER: Andrade Justi S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7906454 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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From e-voucher to genomic data: Preserving archive specimens as demonstrated with medically important mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) and kissing bugs (Hemiptera: Reduviidae).

Andrade Justi Silvia S Soghigian John J Pecor David B DB Caicedo-Quiroga Laura L Rutvisuttinunt Wiriya W Li Tao T Stevens Lori L Dorn Patricia L PL Wiegmann Brian B Linton Yvonne-Marie YM

PloS one 20210225 2

Scientific collections such as the U.S. National Museum (USNM) are critical to filling knowledge gaps in molecular systematics studies. The global taxonomic impediment has resulted in a reduction of expert taxonomists generating new collections of rare or understudied taxa and these large historic collections may be the only reliable source of material for some taxa. Integrated systematics studies using both morphological examinations and DNA sequencing are often required for resolving many taxo ...[more]

PMID: 33630885

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Project description:Assassin bugs are one of the most successful clades of predatory animals based on their species numbers (∼6,800 spp.) and wide distribution in terrestrial ecosystems. Various novel prey capture strategies and remarkable prey specializations contribute to their appeal as a model to study evolutionary pathways involved in predation. Here, we reconstruct the most comprehensive reduviid phylogeny (178 taxa, 18 subfamilies) to date based on molecular data (5 markers). This phylogeny tests current hypotheses on reduviid relationships emphasizing the polyphyletic Reduviinae and the blood-feeding, disease-vectoring Triatominae, and allows us, for the first time in assassin bugs, to reconstruct ancestral states of prey associations and microhabitats. Using a fossil-calibrated molecular tree, we estimated divergence times for key events in the evolutionary history of Reduviidae. Our results indicate that the polyphyletic Reduviinae fall into 11-14 separate clades. Triatominae are paraphyletic with respect to the reduviine genus Opisthacidius in the maximum likelihood analyses; this result is in contrast to prior hypotheses that found Triatominae to be monophyletic or polyphyletic and may be due to the more comprehensive taxon and character sampling in this study. The evolution of blood-feeding may thus have occurred once or twice independently among predatory assassin bugs. All prey specialists evolved from generalist ancestors, with multiple evolutionary origins of termite and ant specializations. A bark-associated life style on tree trunks is ancestral for most of the lineages of Higher Reduviidae; living on foliage has evolved at least six times independently. Reduviidae originated in the Middle Jurassic (178 Ma), but significant lineage diversification only began in the Late Cretaceous (97 Ma). The integration of molecular phylogenetics with fossil and life history data as presented in this paper provides insights into the evolutionary history of reduviids and clears the way for in-depth evolutionary hypothesis testing in one of the most speciose clades of predators.

Dataset Information

From e-voucher to genomic data: Preserving archive specimens as demonstrated with medically important mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) and kissing bugs (Hemiptera: Reduviidae).

Publications

From e-voucher to genomic data: Preserving archive specimens as demonstrated with medically important mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) and kissing bugs (Hemiptera: Reduviidae).

Similar Datasets

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