ABSTRACT
The amphipod crustacean Parhyale hawaiensis is a blossoming model system for studies of developmental mechanisms and more recently regeneration. We have sequenced the genome allowing annotation of all key signaling pathways, transcription factors, and non-coding RNAs that will enhance ongoing functional studies. Parhyale is a member of the Malacostraca clade, which includes crustacean food crop species. We analysed the immunity related genes of Parhyale as an important comparative system for these species, where immunity related aquaculture problems have increased as farming has intensified. We also find that Parhyale and other species within Multicrustacea contain the enzyme sets necessary to perform lignocellulose digestion (“wood eating”), suggesting this ability may predate the diversification of this lineage. Our data provide an essential resource for further development of Parhyale as an experimental model. The first malacostracan genome will underpin ongoing comparative work in food crop species and research investigating lignocellulose as an energy source.
Footnotes
Competing interests The authors declare no competing interests
Funding AAA and co-workers are funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Reserarch Council (BBSRC grant number BB/K007564/1), the Medical Research Council (MRC grant number MR/M000133/1), the John Fell Fund Oxford University Press (OUP) and the Elizabeth Hannah Jenkinson Fund. AGL receives funding from the Human Frontier Science Program postdoctoral fellowship and the Elizabeth Hannah Jenkinson Research Fund. NHP and co-workers are funded by NSF grant IOS-1257379. AP and co-workers are funded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. PS and co-workers are funded by the Medical Research council (MRC MC-A652-5PZ80) and an Imperial College Research Fellowship too PS. MA and colleagues received funding from the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (France), grant ANR-12-CHEX-0001-01. The funding bodies had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
