Leptinotarsa decemlineata Epigenomics

We report the epigenetic landscape of Leptinotarsa decemlineata, a beetle species that has lost DNMT3 but retained CpG methylation. We combined whole body (mixed sex) RNA-seq (embryo, adult), enzymatic methyl-seq (embryo, adult) and CUT&Tag (embryo) to study CpG methylation and patterns of H3K36me3 and H3K27ac histone modifications on a genome-wide scale. Our study provides new insights into the evolutionary flexibility of epigenetic modification systems that urge caution when generalizing across species.