High‐quality genomes reveal significant genetic divergence and cryptic
speciation in the model organism Folsomia candida (Collembola)
Abstract
The collembolan Folsomia candida Willem, 1902, is an important
representative soil arthropod that is widely distributed throughout the
world and has been frequently used as a test organism in soil ecology
and ecotoxicology studies. However, it is questioned as an ideal
“standard” because of differences in reproductive modes and cryptic
genetic diversity between strains from various geographical origins. In
this study, we present two high-quality chromosome-level genomes of F.
candida, for the parthenogenetic Danish strain (FCDK, 219.08 Mb, N50 of
38.47 Mb, 25,139 protein-coding genes) and the sexual Shanghai strain
(FCSH, 153.09 Mb, N50 of 25.75 Mb, 21,609 protein-coding genes). The
seven chromosomes of FCDK are each 25–54% larger than the
corresponding chromosomes of FCSH, showing obvious repetitive element
expansions and large-scale inversions and translocations but no
whole-genome duplication. The strain-specific genes, expanded gene
families and genes in nonsyntenic chromosomal regions identified in FCDK
are highly related to its broader environmental adaptation. In addition,
the overall sequence identity of the two mitogenomes is only 78.2%, and
FCDK has fewer strain-specific microRNAs than FCSH. In conclusion, FCDK
and FCSH have accumulated independent genetic changes and evolved into
distinct species since diverging 10 Mya. Our work shows that F. candida
represents a good model of rapidly cryptic speciation. Moreover, it
provides important genomic resources for studying the mechanisms of
species differentiation, soil arthropod adaptation to soil ecosystems,
and Wolbachia-induced parthenogenesis as well as the evolution of
Collembola, a pivotal phylogenetic clade between Crustacea and Insecta.