Duplication, Loss, and Feeding Ecology of Lysozyme Gene Copy Number in Insects
Abstract
Lysozymes are ubiquitous enzymes traditionally associated with immune defense via bacterial cell wall degradation. In some insect lineages, particularly Diptera with bacteria-rich diets, these enzymes have been secondarily recruited for digestion, but how widespread this shift is across other insect groups remains unclear. Here, we investigate the evolutionary dynamics and functional roles of C-type and I-type lysozymes across 275 insect genomes, inferring patterns of gene duplication and loss and testing associations between lysozyme copy number and dietary habits. Phylogenetic Generalized Least Squares method revealed few significant associations: a weak link between larval detritivory and C-type copy number, and a more consistent one between an omnivorous diet and I-type copy number across life stages. Duplication analysis revealed multiple independent expansions of C-type lysozymes within Brachycera. In Muscoidea, C-type lysozymes were highly expressed in the Musca domestica larval midgut, consistent with digestion, whereas in Blattodea, moderate C-type copy numbers and salivary gland-biased expression in Periplaneta americana adults instead suggest a primarily antiseptic role. I-type lysozymes lack the catalytic residues required for canonical muramidase activity, yet remain conserved throughout Insecta, including in lineages that lost C-type lysozymes, suggesting alternative, non-canonical functions. Together, these findings are more consistent with a predominantly lineage-specific pattern of gene family evolution, largely uncoupled from a single ecological driver, than with a broad, diet-driven adaptive signal. Digestive recruitment of C-type lysozymes may extend beyond the well-characterized cases of Musca domestica and Drosophila melanogaster to additional expanded lineages across Brachycera, although direct functional evidence remains lacking.
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BibTeX
@article{romao2026duplication,
title = {{Duplication, Loss, and Feeding Ecology of Lysozyme Gene Copy Number in Insects}},
author = {Héctor Antônio Assunção Romão and Carolina Kurotusch Canettieri and Thalison Rodrigues Moreira and Karoliny Zarreta Santos Freire and Jaqueline Magalhães Pereira and José Alexandre Felizola Diniz-Filho and Rhewter Nunes and Adriana Rios Lopes and Walter R Terra and Clayton Luiz Borges and Renata de Oliveira Dias},
journal = {Genome Biology and Evolution},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1093/gbe/evag265},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evag265},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Duplication, Loss, and Feeding Ecology of Lysozyme Gene Copy Number in Insects
AU - Héctor Antônio Assunção Romão
AU - Carolina Kurotusch Canettieri
AU - Thalison Rodrigues Moreira
AU - Karoliny Zarreta Santos Freire
AU - Jaqueline Magalhães Pereira
AU - José Alexandre Felizola Diniz-Filho
AU - Rhewter Nunes
AU - Adriana Rios Lopes
AU - Walter R Terra
AU - Clayton Luiz Borges
AU - Renata de Oliveira Dias
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/22
JO - Genome Biology and Evolution
DO - 10.1093/gbe/evag265
UR - https://doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evag265
AB - Lysozymes are ubiquitous enzymes traditionally associated with immune defense via bacterial cell wall degradation. In some insect lineages, particularly Diptera with bacteria-rich diets, these enzymes have been secondarily recruited for digestion, but how widespread this shift is across other insect groups remains unclear. Here, we investigate the evolutionary dynamics and functional roles of C-type and I-type lysozymes across 275 insect genomes, inferring patterns of gene duplication and loss and testing associations between lysozyme copy number and dietary habits. Phylogenetic Generalized Least Squares method revealed few significant associations: a weak link between larval detritivory and C-type copy number, and a more consistent one between an omnivorous diet and I-type copy number across life stages. Duplication analysis revealed multiple independent expansions of C-type lysozymes within Brachycera. In Muscoidea, C-type lysozymes were highly expressed in the Musca domestica larval midgut, consistent with digestion, whereas in Blattodea, moderate C-type copy numbers and salivary gland-biased expression in Periplaneta americana adults instead suggest a primarily antiseptic role. I-type lysozymes lack the catalytic residues required for canonical muramidase activity, yet remain conserved throughout Insecta, including in lineages that lost C-type lysozymes, suggesting alternative, non-canonical functions. Together, these findings are more consistent with a predominantly lineage-specific pattern of gene family evolution, largely uncoupled from a single ecological driver, than with a broad, diet-driven adaptive signal. Digestive recruitment of C-type lysozymes may extend beyond the well-characterized cases of Musca domestica and Drosophila melanogaster to additional expanded lineages across Brachycera, although direct functional evidence remains lacking.
SN - 1759-6653
ER -