Yoshida Y, Shaikhutdinov N, Kozlova O, Itoh M, Tagami M, Murata M, Nishiyori-Sueki H, Kojima-Ishiyama M, Noma S, Cherkasov A, Gazizova G, Nasibullina A, Deviatiiarov R, Shagimardanova E, Ryabova A, Yamaguchi K, Bino T, Shigenobu S, Tokumoto S, Miyata Y, Cornette R, Yamada TG, Funahashi A, Tomita M, Gusev O, Kikawada T.

NAR Genom Bioinform. 2022 Apr 5;4(2):lqac029. doi:10.1093/nargab/lqac029

High quality genome assembly of the anhydrobiotic midge provides insights on a single chromosome-based emergence of extreme desiccation tolerance.

Sleeping chironomid Polypedilum vanderplanki. Resists dessication. Its chr4, and the genes it encodes has a lower GC content than the others. Chr4 harbors genes and loci related to resistance to dehydratation. “One element that may have caused the diversity in Chromosome 4 is DNA damage. We have previously observed extensive DNA damage during larvae anhydrobiosis and the induction of Rad51, an activator of double strand break repair during recovery” Discusses that preference for NHEJ might have caused decrease of GC content.