insects Article Tracking the Distribution and Burst of Nuclear Mitochondrial DNA Sequences (NUMTs) in Fig Wasp Genomes 1, 1, 2 1,2, 1, Jian-Xia Wang y, Jing Liu y, Yun-Heng Miao , Da-Wei Huang * and Jin-Hua Xiao * 1 Institute of Entomology, College of Life Sciences, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China;
[email protected] (J.-X.W.);
[email protected] (J.L.) 2 Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China;
[email protected] * Correspondence:
[email protected] (D.-W.H.);
[email protected] (J.-H.X.); Tel.: +86-139-1025-6670 (D.-W.H.); +86-185-2245-2108 (J.-H.X.) These authors contributed equally to this work. y Received: 4 September 2020; Accepted: 6 October 2020; Published: 7 October 2020 Simple Summary: Nuclear mitochondrial DNA sequences (NUMTs), which result from the insertion of exogenous mtDNA into the nuclear genome, are widely distributed in eukaryotes. However, how NUMTs are inserted into the nuclear genome and their post-insertion fates remain a mystery. Previous studies have suggested that Hymenoptera may be a group rich in NUMTs, which will be helpful to study the biological issues of NUMTs. We here select 11 species of fig wasps (Chalcidoidea, Hymenoptera) to analyze the distribution and evolution of NUMTs at the genomic level. The results show that the distributions of NUMTs are species- or lineage-specific. Furthermore, genomic environmental factors such as genome size, the damage-prone regions, and the mode of TE dynamics can determine the insertion and post-insertion fate of NUMTs.