Mating strategy predicts gene presence/absence patterns in a genus of simultaneously hermaphroditic flatworms.

ABSTRACT: Gene repertoire turnover is a characteristic of genome evolution. However, we lack well-replicated analyses of presence/absence patterns associated with different selection contexts. Here, we study ∼100 transcriptome assemblies across Macrostomum, a genus of simultaneously hermaphroditic flatworms exhibiting multiple convergent shifts in mating strategy and associated reproductive morphologies. Many species mate reciprocally, with partners donating and receiving sperm at the same time. Other species convergently evolved to mate by hypodermic injection of sperm into the partner. We find that for orthologous transcripts annotated as expressed in the body region containing the testes, sequences from hypodermically inseminating species diverge more rapidly from the model species, Macrostomum l

SUBMITTER: Wiberg RAW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10092323 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature