Completion of the i5K genome project of the Colorado potato beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata

The Colorado potato beetle (CPB), Leptinotarsa decemlineata, has repeatedly demonstrated an extraordinary ability to evolve rapidly in response to a wide range of ecological conditions and pest management strategies. From its original range in Mexico, CPB has expanded to occupy more than 16 million km2 across the Northern Hemisphere and now ranks as one of the world's most successful globally-invasive insect herbivores. Having the dubious honor of starting the pesticide industry in 1865, it has remained one of the most challenging agricultural pests to manage due to a general lack of natural enemies and a spectacular ability to rapidly evolve resistance to a broad range of insecticides (over 50 different compounds in all the major classes). Therefore, understanding the genomic basis underlying the beetle’s ability to rapidly evolve would be a major step towards developing sustainable methods to control this widely successful pest. As part of the i5K Arthropod Project, we present the work of the CPB Genome Consortium, providing insight into how this beetle has been so widely successful. The CPB genome provides a framework for understanding the basis of rapid evolution, as well as insight on a broad range of phenotypes, including thermal adaptations, plant feeding, pesticide detoxification, RNAi regulation, transposon activity, and physiological diversity. Our results provide the basis for genomic-scale data analyses that will not only provide new gene targets and control measures for this global pest, but will help illuminate the genetic architecture of one of the most evolutionarily diverse lineages, the beetle family Chrysomelidae.