Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40066805›Full record

ArticleGenome biology and evolution2025

A Haplotype-resolved Chromosome-scale Genome Assembly and Annotation for the Leafcutter Ant, Acromyrmex octospinosus.

Gaurav Agavekar, Yoshihiko Suzuki, Miyuki Suenaga, Miguel Pacheco-Leiva, Michael Hiller, Adrián A Pinto-Tomas, Eugene Myers, Evan P Economo

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Article in Genome biology and evolution, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

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2citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Gaurav AgavekarBiodiversity and Biocomplexity Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Onna-son, Japan.ORCID 0000-0003-3977-3775
Yoshihiko SuzukiAlgorithms for Ecological and Evolutionary Genomics Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Onna-son, Japan.ORCID 0000-0002-8807-2206
Miyuki SuenagaBiodiversity and Biocomplexity Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Onna-son, Japan.ORCID 0009-0005-7308-0501
Miguel Pacheco-LeivaCenter for Research in Cellular and Molecular Biology, University of Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica.
Michael HillerLOEWE Centre for Translational Biodiversity Genomics, Frankfurt, Germany.ORCID 0000-0003-3024-1449
Adrián A Pinto-TomasCenter for Research in Microscopic Structures and Department of Biochemistry, School of Medicine, University of Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica.ORCID 0000-0003-2369-1054
Eugene MyersAlgorithms for Ecological and Evolutionary Genomics Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Onna-son, Japan.ORCID 0000-0002-6580-7839
Evan P EconomoBiodiversity and Biocomplexity Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Onna-son, Japan.ORCID 0000-0001-7402-0432

Funding

OIST
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Leafcutter ants are ecologically important insects that cultivate fungal gardens for sustenance, playing crucial roles in Neotropical ecosystems. Due to their ecological and evolutionary significance, high-quality genomic assemblies for the species in this fascinating group can provide a foundation for understanding their evolution. Here, we present a chromosome-scale, haplotype-resolved genome assembly for Acromyrmex octospinosus, a common leafcutter ant species broadly distributed in the Neotropics. Using PacBio HiFi sequencing (99x coverage) and Hi-C scaffolding (51x coverage), we generated both haplotype-resolved assemblies (312-314 Mb) and a haplotype-collapsed assembly (320 Mb), each containing 19 chromosomes. One hundred percent of the assembly is anchored to chromosome-level scaffolds, and the assemblies exhibit high contiguity (contig N50: 6.13-8.28 Mb), base accuracy (QV 61.5-61.8), and gene completeness (BUSCO scores: 98.3% to 98.4%). Synteny analysis between haplotypes revealed high concordance (96.0% to 96.8%) with minor structural variations, consistent with expectations for a diploid individual. Combining transcriptomic and homology-based protein evidence with ab initio predictions, we annotated 12,123 genes, achieving a near-complete BUSCO gene completeness of 99.6%. The high-quality assemblies significantly enhance the current genomic resources available for leafcutter ants, providing a foundation for future comparative genomic studies within Acromyrmex and across fungus-farming ants.

Indexed as

AntsGenome, InsectAnimalsHaplotypesMolecular Sequence AnnotationSyntenydiploid assemblyfungus-farming antshymenopterainsect genomics

Identifiers

PMID40066805
PMCPMC11926981

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.