Mapping Genomic Scaffolds to Chromosomes Using Laser Capture Microdissection in Application to Hawaiian Picture-Winged Drosophila

Abstract

Next-generation sequencing technologies have led to a decreased cost and an increased throughput in genome sequencing. Yet, many genome assemblies based on short sequencing reads have been assembled only to the scaffold level due to the lack of sufficient chromosome mapping information. Traditional ways of mapping scaffolds to chromosomes require a large amount of laboratory work and time to generate genetic and/or physical maps. To address this problem, we conducted a rapid technique which uses laser capture microdissection and enables mapping scaffolds of de novo genome assemblies directly to chromosomes in Hawaiian picture-winged Drosophila. We isolated and sequenced intact chromosome arms from larvae of D. differens. By mapping the reads of each chromosome to the recently assembled scaffolds from 3 Hawaiian picture-winged Drosophila species, at least 67% of the scaffolds were successfully assigned to chromosome arms. Even though the scaffolds are not ordered within a chromosome, the fast-generated chromosome information allows for chromosome-related analyses after genome assembling. We utilize this new information to test the faster-X evolution effect for the first time in these Hawaiian picture-winged Drosophila species.