Mytilus galloprovincialis Genome sequencing

Mediterranean mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) show high resilience to environmental stress, which may be linked to their open pangenomes and extensive gene presence-absence variation (PAV). By sequencing 36 individuals, we found that core genes are under stronger purifying selection, and immunity-related PAV genes show signatures of relaxed constraint and balancing selection. These findings highlight how gene content variation contributes to adaptive capacity in marine invertebrates.

地中海贻贝（Mytilus galloprovincialis）对环境胁迫具有较高的抗逆性，该特性可能与其开放泛基因组以及广泛的基因存在-缺失变异（presence-absence variation，PAV）密切相关。本研究通过对36个个体进行测序，发现核心基因受到更强的纯化选择，而与免疫相关的PAV基因则呈现出选择约束放松与平衡选择的特征。上述研究结果揭示了基因含量变异如何助力海洋无脊椎动物的适应性能力。