New Zealand Tree and Giant Weta (Orthoptera) Transcriptomics Reveal Divergent Selection Patterns in Metabolic Loci.

ABSTRACT: Exposure to low temperatures requires an organism to overcome physiological challenges. New Zealand wētā belonging to the genera Hemideina and Deinacrida are found across a wide range of thermal environments and therefore subject to varying selective pressures. Here we assess the selection pressures across the wētā phylogeny, with a particular emphasis on identifying genes under positive or diversifying selection. We used RNA-seq to generate transcriptomes for all 18 Deinacrida and Hemideina species. A total of 755 orthologous genes were identified using a bidirectional best-hit approach, with the resulting gene set encompassing a diverse range of functional classes. Analysis of ortholog ratios of synonymous to nonsynonymous amino acid changes found 83 genes that are under positive selecti

SUBMITTER: Twort VG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6486805 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature