Publication Date:
2023-05-10
Description:
Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) is Earth’smost abundant wild animal, and its enormous biomass is vital to
the Southern Ocean ecosystem. Here, we report a 48.01-Gb chromosome-level Antarctic krill genome, whose
large genome size appears to have resulted from inter-genic transposable element expansions. Our assembly
reveals the molecular architecture of the Antarctic krill circadian clock and uncovers expanded gene
families associated with molting and energy metabolism, providing insights into adaptations to the cold
and highly seasonal Antarctic environment. Population-level genome re-sequencing from four geographical
sites around the Antarctic continent reveals no clear population structure but highlights natural selection
associated with environmental variables. An apparent drastic reduction in krill population size 10 mya and
a subsequent rebound 100 thousand years ago coincides with climate change events. Our findings uncover
the genomic basis of Antarctic krill adaptations to the Southern Ocean and provide valuable resources for
future Antarctic research.
Repository Name:
EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
Type:
Article
,
isiRev
Format:
application/pdf
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