International Journal of Molecular Zoology, 2025, Vol.15, No.2, 58-68 http://animalscipublisher.com/index.php/ijmz 58 Review and Progress Open Access The Evolutionary Genomics of Giant African Land Snail (Lissachatina fulica): Insights from Whole-Genome Sequencing and Structural Variations Wei Liu 1, JiaChen2 1 Institute of Life Sciences, Jiyang Colloge of Zhejiang A&F University, Zhuji, 311800, Zhejiang, China 2 Tropical Animal Resources Research Center, Hainan Institute of Tropical Agricultural Resources, Sanya, 572025, Hainan, China Corresponding author: jia.chen@hitar.org International Journal of Molecular Zoology, 2025, Vol.15, No.2 doi: 10.5376/ijmz.2025.15.0007 Received: 15 Feb., 2025 Accepted: 07 Mar., 2025 Published: 18 Mar., 2025 Copyright © 2025 Liu and Chen, This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Preferred citation for this article: Liu W., and Chen J., 2025, The evolutionary genomics of giant African land snail (Lissachatina fulica): insights from whole-genome sequencing and structural variations, International Journal of Molecular Zoology, 15(2): 58-68 (doi: 10.5376/ijmz.2025.15.0007) Abstract The giant African land snail (Lissachatina fulica) has an extremely strong invasive ability, threatening agricultural and forestry production and posing public health risks. This study, based on whole-genome sequencing and structural variation (SV) analysis, explored its evolutionary genomic characteristics. The functional annotation results show that, the gene families related to carbohydrate metabolism, mucus synthesis, and shell biominalization have expanded. These changes clearly provide support for its survival in diverse environments. Comparative genomics further discovered that, it shared a genome-wide replication event with Achatina immaculata that occurred approximately 70 million years ago. This event might have promoted its ecological adaptation and terrestrial biochemical processes. SV plays a crucial role in regulating gene expression, enhancing environmental tolerance, immune defense and resource utilization. At the same time, it can also serve as a phylogenetic and biogeographic marker to track its invasion path. The study emphasizes that in the future, pan-genomic and large-scale population studies based on SV should be given priority, which will help to gain a deeper understanding of its evolutionary and adaptive mechanisms. Keywords Giant African land snail (Lissachatina fulica); Whole genome; Structural variation; Gene family expansion; Biosafety 1 Introduction The giant African land snail (Lissachatina fulica) first lived in East Africa. But it has now traveled a long distance - it can be seen in many places in Asia, the Pacific, the Caribbean, Latin America, and even Europe, and is distributed in more than 50 countries (Vijayan et al., 2020; 2022; Gabetti et al., 2023). At the beginning, people placed it in the genus Achatina, so its name was Achatina fulica. Later, some scholars conducted morphological and molecular phylogenetic analyses and concluded that it was a separate branch within the genus Achatina. Therefore, it was renamed Lissachatina fulica (Guo et al., 2019). This kind of snail has a strong adaptability, spreads rapidly, has a high reproductive capacity, and can survive in any environment - whether in cities, farmlands, or protected areas (Vazquez et al., 2018; Gabetti et al., 2023; Castillo et al., 2025). What's more troublesome is that, it is hermaphroditic and can self-fertilize, and one individual may establish a new population (Vazquez et al., 2018; Gabetti et al., 2023). L. fulica is not friendly to biodiversity. It will push out local mollusks, leading to the rapid decline of some endemic snail populations. This situation is particularly obvious on islands (Gerlach et al., 2020; Gabetti et al., 2023; Castillo et al., 2025). In farmlands, its reputation is even worse. It is notorious as a pest - crops, vegetables, and horticultural plants are all gnawed, causing significant economic losses (Morrison et al., 2015; Ayyagari and Sreerama, 2017). The troubles do not end here. It is also a transmitter of some zoonotic parasites, like Angiostrongylus cantonensis, which causes public health problems in invaded areas (Vazquez et al., 2018; Gabetti et al., 2023). Whole-genome sequencing provides a comprehensive view of the genetic diversity, population structure, and evolutionary history of invasive species like L. fulica (Morrison et al., 2015). This approach identify key genetic markers, such as microsatellite markers, to help track invasion pathways, understand population dynamics events,
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