Genome sequencing of the winged midge, Parochlus steinenii, from the Antarctic Peninsula

Background: In the Antarctic, only two species of Chironomidae occur naturally—the wingless midge, Belgica antarctica, and the winged midge, Parochlus steinenii. B. antarctica is an extremophile with unusual adaptations. The larvae of B. antarctica are desiccation- and freeze-tolerant and the adults...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:GigaScience
Main Authors: Kim, Sanghee, Oh, Mijin, Jung, Woongsic, Park, Joonho, Choi, Han-Gu, Shin, Seung Chul
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: Oxford University Press 2017
Subjects:
Data Note
Antarctic
Antarctic Peninsula
The Antarctic
Antarc*
Antarctic midge
Antarctica
Belgica antarctica
Online Access:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5467013/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28327954
https://doi.org/10.1093/gigascience/giw009
Description
Summary:Background: In the Antarctic, only two species of Chironomidae occur naturally—the wingless midge, Belgica antarctica, and the winged midge, Parochlus steinenii. B. antarctica is an extremophile with unusual adaptations. The larvae of B. antarctica are desiccation- and freeze-tolerant and the adults are wingless. Recently, the compact genome of B. antarctica was reported and it is the first Antarctic eukaryote to be sequenced. Although P. steinenii occurs naturally in the Antarctic with B. antarctica, the larvae of P. steinenii are cold-tolerant but not freeze-tolerant and the adults are winged. Differences in adaptations in the Antarctic midges are interesting in terms of evolutionary processes within an extreme environment. Herein, we provide the genome of another Antarctic midge to help elucidate the evolution of these species.

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