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Pangenomics Links Boll Weevil Divergence with U.S. Cotton Cultivation
  • +5
  • Zachary Cohen,
  • Lindsey Perkin,
  • Tyler Raszick,
  • Sheina Sim,
  • Scott M. Geib,
  • Anna Childers,
  • Gregory Sword,
  • Charles Suh
Zachary Cohen
University of Wisconsin Madison

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Lindsey Perkin
USDA
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Tyler Raszick
USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
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Sheina Sim
USDA-ARS Daniel K Inouye US Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center
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Scott M. Geib
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)
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Anna Childers
USDA-ARS
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Gregory Sword
Texas A&M University
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Charles Suh
USDA
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Abstract

javascript:void(0) The boll weevil, Anthonomus grandis grandis Boheman, and thurberia weevil, Anthonomus grandis thurberiae Pierce (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), together comprise a species complex that ranges throughout Mexico, the southwestern regions of the United States, and South America. The boll weevil is a historically damaging and contemporaneously threatening pest to commercial Upland cotton, Gossypium hirsutum L. (Malvales: Malvaceae), whereas the thurberia weevil is regarded as an innocuous non-pest subspecies that is mostly found on non-cultivated Gossypium species, e.g. Thurber’s or Arizona cotton, G. thurberi, throughout its native range in western parts of Mexico and the southwestern US. Recent independent analyses using mitochondrial COI and whole genome ddRADseq have suggested the independent evolution of these lineages is largely attributable to geographic isolation and not to host plant preference. We furthered this investigation by employing comparative genomic, population genetic, and pangenome methodologies to identify large and small polymorphisms within this complex and described their role in demography and adaptation. We also leveraged genetic differences to identify nearly 40,000 diagnostic loci between the subspecies, find genes under selection, and model the subspecies’ shared and unique evolutionary history. Interestingly, structural variations capture a large proportion of genes at the population level and demographic reconstruction suggests a split between these subspecies that coincides with cotton cultivation in the southern U.S. in the late 1800s. Observed polymorphisms are enriched for reproductive, regulatory, and metabolic genes which may be attributed to the boll weevil’s rapid expansion onto commercial cotton.
13 Jun 2024Submitted to Molecular Ecology Resources
23 Jun 2024Reviewer(s) Assigned
07 Aug 2024Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
02 Sep 2024Editorial Decision: Revise Minor
07 Oct 20241st Revision Received
09 Oct 2024Submission Checks Completed
09 Oct 2024Assigned to Editor
09 Oct 2024Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
09 Oct 2024Reviewer(s) Assigned