SAT III RNA binds to the kinetochore component CENP-C and is required for correct assembly and function of the kinetochore at centromeres.

The amphipod crustacean Parhyale hawaiensis is a blossoming model system for studies of developmental mechanisms and more recently regeneration. We have sequenced the genome allowing annotation of all key signaling pathways, transcription factors, and non-coding RNAs that will enhance ongoing functional studies. Parhyale is a member of the Malacostraca clade, which includes crustacean food crop species. We analysed the immunity related genes of Parhyale as an important comparative system for these species, where immunity related aquaculture problems have increased as farming has intensified. We also find that Parhyale and other species within Multicrustacea contain the enzyme sets necessary to perform lignocellulose digestion ('wood eating'), suggesting this ability may predate the diversification of this lineage. Our data provide an essential resource for further development of Parhyale as an experimental model. The first malacostracan genome will underpin ongoing comparative work in food crop species and research investigating lignocellulose as an energy source.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.20062.001

Methylation at the 5 position of cytosine in DNA (5meC), is a key epigenetic mark in eukaryotes. Once introduced, 5meC can be maintained through DNA replication due to the activity of “maintenance” DNA methyltransferases.. Despite their ancient origin, DNA methylation pathways differ widely across metazoans, such that 5meC is either confined to transcribed genes or lost altogether in several lineages. Here we use comparative epigenomics to investigate the evolution of DNA methylation. Although the model nematode C. elegans has lost DNA methylation, more basal nematodes retain cytosine DNA methylation, targeted to repeat loci. Unexpectedly, we find that DNA methylation coevolves with the DNA alkylation repair enzyme ALKB2 across eukaryotes. We further show that DNA methyltransferases introduce the toxic lesion 3meC into DNA both in vitro and in vivo. Alkylation damage is thus intrinsically associated with DNA methyltransferase activity, and this may promote the loss of DNA methylation in many species.