Year: 2011
Type: article
Abstract: The first non-avian reptile genome has been sequenced, that of the North American green anole lizard (Anolis carolinensis). The anole is an emerging model for the study of adaptive radiation and convergent evolution. The genome includes a previously unknown X chromosome, with no homology to known amniote sex chromosomes, and microchromosomes that share a common ancestry with those in birds, but without their unusual characteristics. The evolution of the amniotic egg was one of the great evolutionary innovations in the history of life, freeing vertebrates from an obligatory connection to water and thus permitting the conquest of terrestrial environments1. Among amniotes, genome sequences are available for mammals and birds2,3,4, but not for non-avian reptiles. Here we report the genome sequence of the North American green anole lizard, Anolis carolinensis. We find that A. carolinensis microchromosomes are highly syntenic with chicken microchromosomes, yet do not exhibit the high GC and low repeat content that are characteristic of avian microchromosomes2. Also, A. carolinensis mobile elements are very young and diverse—more so than in any other sequenced amniote genome. The GC content of this lizard genome is also unusual in its homogeneity, unlike the regionally variable GC content found in mammals and birds5. We describe and assign sequence to the previously unknown A. carolinensis X chromosome. Comparative gene analysis shows that amniote egg proteins have evolved significantly more rapidly than other proteins. An anole phylogeny resolves basal branches to illuminate the history of their repeated adaptive radiations.
Source: Nature
DOI: 10.1038/nature10390
Authors: Jessica Alföldi, Federica Di Palma, Manfred Grabherr, Christina Williams, Lesheng Kong, Evan Mauceli, Pamela Russell, Craig B. Lowe, Richard E. Glor, Jacob D. Jaffe, David A. Ray, Stephane Boissinot, Andrew M. Shedlock, Christopher Botka, Todd A. Castoe, John K. Colbourne, Matthew K. Fujita, Ricardo Godinez Moreno, Boudewijn F. ten Hallers, David Haussler, Andreas Heger, David Heiman, Daniel E. Janes, Jeremy Johnson, Pieter J. de Jong, Maxim Y. Koriabine, Marcia Lara, Peter A. Novick, Chris L. Organ, Sally E. Peach, Steven Poe, David D. Pollock, Kevin de Queiroz, Thomas Sanger, Steve Searle, Jeremy D. Smith, Zachary Smith, Ross Swofford, Jason Turner-Maier, Juli Wade, Sarah Young, Amonida Zadissa, Scott V. Edwards, Travis C. Glenn, Christopher J. Schneider, Jonathan B. Losos, Eric S. Lander, Matthew Breen, Chris P. Ponting, Kerstin Lindblad-Toh
Institutions: Broad Institute, North Carolina State University, University of Oxford, Stanford Medicine, Stanford University, University of Rochester, Mississippi State University, Queens College, CUNY, City University of New York, College of Charleston, Harvard University, University of Colorado Anschutz, University of Colorado Denver, Indiana University Bloomington, Indiana University, University of California, Santa Cruz, Queensborough Community College, CUNY, University of New Mexico, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Michigan State University, University of Georgia, Boston University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, Uppsala University, Science for Life Laboratory
Language: English
Subfield: Plant Science
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $12,690
Awards: Collaborative Research: Layers of adaptive radiation in Anolis lizards: Investigation of previously unexplored ecological and taxonomic diversity, Large Scale Sequencing and Analysis of Genomes, Adaptation, exaptation, and colonization in solitary Anolis lizards, Defining the functional landscapes of metazoan genomes
OpenAlex ID: W2139453209