Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Liangsheng Zhang.
Chen et al. identified 132 whole-genome duplications (WGDs) clustered around environmental crises. We highlight how, over longer evolutionary timescales, ancient WGDs convergently retained MADS-box, MYB, WRKY and HSF transcription factors, building stress-adaptation networks. These insights guide climate-resilient crop improvement through comparative genomics and CRISPR engineering.
Haemaphysalis longicornis is an important tick species and pathogen vector characterized by the co-circulation of triploid parthenogenetic and diploid bisexual strains. However, the evolutionary basis of parthenogenesis in this species is unclear. Here we report reference-quality, haplotype-resolved genome assemblies of the parthenogenetic strain and two reference-quality genomes of the bisexual strains. Comparative genomic analysis revealed high collinearity between the parthenogenetic and bisexual genomes, with a stable chromosomal architecture maintained among the three haplotypes of the parthenogenetic strain. The parthenogenetic H. longicornis genome exhibited a major expansion in cell cycle-related gene families, including the inhibitor of apoptosis protein (IAP) family, but was characterized by a contraction in other gene families. Population resequencing of 179 individuals revealed two distinct subpopulations, with chromosome 7 harbouring high genetic differentiation and several candidate genes probably associated with parthenogenesis. Functional experiments showed that knockdown of the BIRC5 gene, a member of the IAP family, suppressed oviposition in both strains, with the parthenogenetic strain exhibiting milder adverse effects probably due to a stronger transcriptional response. Overall, our results reveal the genomic and evolutionary features associated with polyploid parthenogenesis in H. longicornis.