A near-complete genome assembly of the bearded dragon Pogona vitticeps provides insights into the origin of Pogona sex chromosomes.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Vertebrate sex is typically determined either by genetic factors, such as sex chromosomes, or by environmental cues like temperature. Therefore, the agamid dragon lizard Pogona vitticeps is remarkable in this regard, as it exhibits both ZZ/ZW genetic and temperature-dependent sex determination. However, complete sequence and full gene content of P. vitticeps sex chromosomes remain unclear, hindering the investigation of sex-determining cascade in this model lizard.

Results

Using CycloneSEQ and DNBSEQ sequencing technologies, we generated a near-complete chromosome-scale genome assembly for a ZZ male P. vitticeps. Compared with previous reference genome (GCF_900067755.1/Pvi1.1), this ∼1.8-Gb new assembly displayed >5,700-fold improvement in contiguity (contig N50:

SUBMITTER: Guo Q 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12360845 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature