De Novo Genome Assembly and Annotation for the Webbing Clothes Moth (Tineola bisselliella): A Globally Distributed, Economically Important Pest

Abstract

AbstractTineola bisselliella, the webbing clothes moth, is an economically important, globally distributed synanthropic pest species and member of the basal moth lineage Tineidae.Tineola bisselliellais facultatively keratinophagous. Therefore, their larvae can cause extensive damage, particularly to clothing, textiles, and museum specimens. Despite the economic and phylogenetic importance ofTineola bisselliella, there is a lack of quality genomic resources for this species, or for others within the Tineidae family. TheTineola bisselliellagenome presented here consists of 30 pseudochromosomes (29 autosomes and 1 Z chromosome) produced using synteny alignment to a closely related species,Tinea pellionella. The resulting final pseudochromosome-level assembly is 243.630 Mb and has an N50 length of 8.708 Mb. The assembly is highly contiguous and has similar or improved quality compared to other available Tineidae genomes, with 93.1% of lepidopteran orthologs complete and present. Annotation of the pseudochromosome-level genome assembly with the transcriptome we produced ultimately yielded 11,267 annotated genes. Synteny alignments between theTineola bisselliellagenome assembly and other Tineidae genomes found evidence for numerous small rearrangements with high synteny conservation. In contrast, synteny alignments performed betweenTineola bisselliellaand the more distantly relatedBombyx moriandMelitea cinxiarevealed more frequent small and large rearrangements as predicted by their evolutionary divergence. The reference quality annotated genome forTineola bisselliellapresented here will advance our understanding of the evolution of the lepidopteran karyotype by providing a chromosome-level genome for this basal moth lineage and provide future insights into the mechanisms underlying keratin digestion inTineola bisselliella.Significance StatementTineola bisselliella, the webbing clothes moth, is a globally distributed synanthropic pest species that feeds on both keratin-based materials and detritus. This dietary habit can cause substantial damage to clothing, textiles, rugs, taxidermy, and museum specimens. In fact, keratinophagous organisms cause an estimated $1 billion worth of damage annually in the United States. However, the lack of a high-quality annotated reference genome for this basal moth species has thus far limited our understanding of the mechanisms underlying keratin digestion relevant to pest control efforts and has hampered efforts to investigate the broader phylogenetic relationships the Tineidae family necessary to reveal patterns of lepidopteran chromosome evolution. Here, we present the first reference quality genome forTineola bisselliellaand the first annotated genome for any member of the Tineidae family, providing a critical resource for the lepidopteran genomics and pest management communities.