The leaf resemblance of Kallima (Nymphalidae) butterflies is an important ecological adaptive mechanism that increases their survival. However, the genetic mechanism underlying ecological adaptation remains unclear owing to a dearth of genomic information. Here, we determined the karyotype (n  = 31) of the dead‐leaf butterfly Kallima inachus , and generated a high‐quality, chromosome‐level assembly (568.92 Mb; contig N50: 19.20 Mb). We also identified candidate Z and W chromosomes. To our knowledge, this is the first study to report on these aspects of this species. In the assembled genome, 15,309 protein‐coding genes and 49.86% repeat elements were annotated. Phylogenetic analysis showed that K. inachus diverged from Melitaea cinxia (no leaf resemblance), both of which are in Nymphalinae, around 40 million years ago. Demographic analysis indicated that the effective population size of K. inachus decreased during the last interglacial period in the Pleistocene. The wings of adults with the pigmentary gene ebony knocked out using CRISPR/Cas9 showed phenotypes in which the orange dorsal region and entire ventral surface darkened, suggesting its vital role in the ecological adaption of dead‐leaf butterflies. Our results provide important genome resources for investigating the genetic mechanism underlying protective resemblance in dead‐leaf butterflies and insights into the molecular basis of protective coloration.

中文翻译：

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死叶蝴蝶Kallima inachus的染色体水平参考基因组装配和基因编辑。

Kallima（Nymphalidae）蝴蝶的叶片相似性是增加其存活率的重要生态适应机制。然而，由于缺乏基因组信息，生态适应的遗传机制仍不清楚。在这里，我们确定了 死叶蝴蝶Kallima inachus的核型（n = 31），并生成了高质量的染色体级装配体（568.92 Mb； contig N50：19.20 Mb）。我们还确定了候选Z和W染色体。据我们所知，这是第一个报告该物种这些方面的研究。在组装的基因组中，注释了15309个蛋白质编码基因和49.86％的重复元件。系统发育分析表明，猪肠克雷伯氏菌与melitaea cinxia（无叶片相似），都在大约4000万年前的睡莲科中。人口统计分析表明，在更新世的最后一个冰期之间，Inachus的有效种群数量减少了。用CRISPR / Cas9敲除带有色素基因乌木的成年人的翅膀显示出表型，其中橙色背侧区域和整个腹侧表面变黑，表明其在死叶蝴蝶的生态适应中起着至关重要的作用。我们的结果提供了重要的基因组资源，可用于研究死叶蝴蝶保护相似性的遗传机制，并深入了解保护性着色的分子基础。