Progress in research on insect genome size and evolution
Author of the article:CONG Yu-Yang；XIAO Hua-Mei；LI Fei
Author's Workplace：Institute of Insect Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China; College of Life Sciences and Resources Environment/ Key Laboratory of Crop Growth and Development Regulation, Jiangxi Province, Yichun University, Yichun 336000, China
Key Words：insect; genome size; C-value paradox; genome evolution; non-coding DNA
Abstract：The genome contains the accumulated genetic information of a species, and genome size is an important metric for studying genome structure, function and evolution. Here, we briefly introduce the methods for estimating genome size and the molecular mechanisms and evolutionary forces underlying changes in animal genome size. We also review current progress in studying insect genome size, especially the correlation between genome size and variable phenotypic characteristics in insects. In general, evolutionary change in insect genome size is a quite complex process that is closely related to transposon. Genome size is the result of the balance between DNA loss and gain. Insect genome size is still evolving, which in turn influences the phenotypic characteristics of insects to various degrees, however, the explicit relationship between these two features remains obscure. Since they have the highest diversity of all animal taxa, insects are good models for studying genome size evolution. Further analysis of insect genome data facilitates uncovering evolutionary changes in insect genome size, which may also shed light on the “C-value enigma”