R&D CENTER

Ant Genome Database: Current Status of Ant Genomes and Their Characteristics

Jongsun Park, Jonghyun Park, Hong Xi
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Ants are eusocial insects belonging to family Formicidae. They have been investigated in vaious aspects, one of which is utilizing molecular sequences such as mitochondrial genomes and whole genomes. Due to rapid development of NGS technologies, speed of releasing whole genome sequences of insect species has increased sharply, resulting in whole genomes originating from 35 ant species are available at the point. In the case of Aphaenogaster rudis, Monomorium pharaonis, Harpegnathos saltator, Camponotus floridanus, and Ooceraea biroi, two or more whole genome sequences are available from different samples. Size of 41 ant genomes ranges from 177.90 Mbp to 429.70 Mbp and average length is 297.14 Mbp (standard deviation is 58.16 Mbp), indicating that ant genome sizes are relatively small, advantageous for whole genome sequencing projects. Excluding 13 ant genomes of which the gene model is not available, average number of genes in 28 ant genomes is 21, 456 (standard deviation is 3, 475) with ranging from 13,061 to 27,275. All these sequences were archived based on GenomeArchiveⓇ and are accessible in the web interface, http://www.antgenome.net/. By combining with social characteristics of ant species, 40 ant genome sequences will be a cornerstone to understand ant species at the level of genomes.