Genome-Wide Characterization of DNA Methylation in an Invasive Lepidopteran Pest, the Cotton Bollworm Helicoverpa armigera.

ABSTRACT: The genes and genomes of insect pests are shaped by the wide array of selective forces encountered in their environments. While the molecular adaptations that evolve are beginning to be understood at the genomic and transcriptomic level, they have been less well characterized at an epigenetic level. Here, we present a genome-wide map of DNA methylation at single-nucleotide resolution for the cotton bollworm moth, Helicoverpa armigera, a globally invasive pest of agriculture. We show that methylation is almost identical in the larvae and adults of H. armigera and that, through whole-genome bisulfite sequencing (WGBS), at the most ∼0.9% of CpG sites in this species are methylated. We find that DNA methylation occurs primarily in exons, is positively correlated with gene express

SUBMITTER: Jones CM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5844299 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature