Arthropod: A Tool for Phylogenomic Research in Arthropods

Mol Ecol Resour. 2025 Jun 28:e70003. doi: 10.1111/1755-0998.70003. Online ahead of print.

Abstract

Arthropods account for 80% of the species diversity in the animal kingdom, yet many challenges remain in studying their evolutionary history. With advancements in genome sequencing technologies, it has become possible to obtain large quantities of genome skimming or transcriptomic data at low costs. However, the lack of a standardised analytical pipeline for arthropods has created inconveniences for many researchers. This study addresses this gap by extensively collecting representative (high-quality) genomic and transcriptomic data from 49 orders and 306 families of arthropods, as well as constructing a low-copy gene set comprising 694 low-copy nuclear genes. Furthermore, we developed the Arthropod analysis tool (https://github.com/Wangjiajia-1111/Arthropod-v1), which takes raw data from genome skimming and transcriptomic sequencing as input. This tool facilitates the automated analysis of phylogenetic trees for newly sequenced species through data filtering, alignment, assembly, and tree construction. These efforts provide new resources for the evolutionary study of arthropods.

Keywords: arthropods; genome skimming; low‐copy gene set; phylogenetic analysis; transcriptomic sequencing.