The Crown-of-Thorns Starfish: From Coral Reef Plague to Model System

Abstract

Acanthaster planci, commonly known as the “crown-of-thorns starfish” (COTS) are famous for decimating coral reefs, yet the unique features of the COTS genome make the starfish a useful system for genomic and evolutionary developmental research. The COTS genome assembly is an order of magnitude more highly contiguous than other recently sequenced echinoderm genome assemblies. The high resolution of the COTS assembly is likely related to low heterozygosity resulting from historical population dynamics and possibly a recent population expansion. The high-resolution genome assembly is biologically meaningful, as confirmed by the discovery of several intact gene clusters. Therefore, the COTS genome is an ideal testing ground for new genomic technologies and bioinformatics tools.