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Transcriptome sequencing and estimation of DNA methylation level in the subsocial wood-feeding cockroach Cryptocercus punctulatus (Blattodea: Cryptocercidae)

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Abstract

The wood-feeding cockroach genus Cryptocercus is a subsocial and sister group of the eusocial cockroaches, i.e., termites. Although Cryptocercus is a key taxon for understanding the evolution of eusociality in the Blattodea (cockroaches and termites), few genetic resources are available for comparative genetic analyses. In this study, we conducted transcriptome sequencing of Cryptocercus punctulatus Scudder using next-generation sequencing technology to generate a massive genetic resource. By transcriptome sequencing and subsequent de novo transcriptome assembly, we obtained 132,191 contigs. The assembled transcriptome contained almost all of the conserved core eukaryote or insect genes. Furthermore, juvenile hormone- and DNA methylation-related genes that are considered to be key genes for the caste polyphenism in eusocial insects, were identified from the transcriptome assembly. In addition, the ratio of the observed (O) cytosine-phosphate-guanine (CpG) content to the expected (E) one (CpG O/E), which is a proxy for the DNA methylation level, was calculated for coding regions extracted from the assembly. The CpG O/E values were less than 1 in most of the coding regions, and the frequency distribution of the CpG O/E values was bimodal rather than unimodal. These results indicate that most C. punctulatus genes are involved in DNA methylation.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. K. Yamaguchi for technical support with the Illumina sequencing, and are grateful to the director and staff of Mountain Lake Biological Station for permission to work on their grounds. We also thank two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on earlier drafts of this article. Computational resources were provided by the Data Integration and Analysis Facility, NIBB. This study was conducted as part of the Model Organism Development Collaborative Research Projects of NIBB, and was supported by a Grant for Basic Science Research Projects from the Sumitomo Foundation (no. 150189 to Y. H.) and Japan Society for the Promotion of Science KAKENHI (Grant Nos. JP16K18591 and 25251041 to Y. H. and T. M., respectively).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Environmental Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Hokkaido, 060-0810, Japan

    Yoshinobu Hayashi & Toru Miura

  2. Department of Biology, Keio University, Yokohama, Kanagawa, 223-8521, Japan

    Yoshinobu Hayashi

  3. Graduate School of Science and Engineering, University of Toyama, Toyama, Toyama, 930-8555, Japan

    Kiyoto Maekawa

  4. Department of Entomology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, 27695-7613, USA

    Christine A. Nalepa

  5. Misaki Marine Biological Station, Graduate School of Science, University of Tokyo, Miura, Kanagawa, 238-0225, Japan

    Toru Miura

  6. Core Research Facilities, National Institute for Basic Biology, National Institutes of Natural Sciences, Okazaki, Aichi, 444-8585, Japan

    Shuji Shigenobu

  7. Department of Basic Biology, School of Life Science, Graduate University for Advanced Studies, Okazaki, Aichi, 444-8585, Japan

    Shuji Shigenobu

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  1. Yoshinobu Hayashi
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Correspondence to Yoshinobu Hayashi.

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Hayashi, Y., Maekawa, K., Nalepa, C.A. et al. Transcriptome sequencing and estimation of DNA methylation level in the subsocial wood-feeding cockroach Cryptocercus punctulatus (Blattodea: Cryptocercidae). Appl Entomol Zool 52, 643–651 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13355-017-0519-7

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