Sarah FARHAT – Post-doctorante ISYEB

• ERC Hyperdiverse

• (podcast) -> Whole genome duplication and gene evolution in the hyperdiverse venomous gastropods

Research on venomous organisms and the toxins they produce is increasing, but there are biases in the taxonomic coverage. Neogastropods are a diverse group of marine predators that use various feeding strategies, including producing bioactive compounds like toxins to subdue prey. However, little is known about the link between the diversity of these compounds and the hyperdiversification of neogastropod species, and how genome evolution is related to both the compounds and species diversities. Only eight neogastropod genomes have been sequenced, and there is uneven quality assembly among the 45 gastropod genomes sequenced so far. To address this, we generated high-quality chromosome-level assemblies of two species, Monoplex corrugatus (tonnoidean) and Stramonita haemastoma (neogastropod), and identified their gene repertoire. We inferred a whole genome duplication event and identified potential toxins in both genomes, and highlighted possible cases of gene subfunctionalization and neofunctionalization using differential gene expression. The high-quality genomes provide valuable references for their respective taxa and facilitate the identification of genome-level processes that contribute to the evolutionary success of predatory neogastropods.