The warm and loving tegu lizard becomes a genetic resource

The tegu, a South American lizard with its own heating system, has had its genome sequenced to an unprecedented level of quality

Date:  November 27, 2018

Source:  GigaScience

Published today in the open-access journal GigaScience is an article that presents the genome of the tegu lizard, which has mastered a trick that is highly unusual in the reptile world: it can turn on its own heating system.

Most reptiles are not able to control their body temperature like mammals do and instead must rely on its environment, such as available sun and shade, to attain an optimal body temperature. The tegu, Salvator merianae, however, has taken a step towards being full-blown warm-blooded: It can raise its own body temperature by up to 10°C above its surroundings. Another, but more negative, aspect of the tegu is that is an invasive species and poses a serious threat to endangered species. Although it is a native of South American rain forests and savannas, the charismatic nature of the tegu -- and that it can even achieve some level of house training, makes it an extremely charming pet that is much beloved by reptile aficionados. Unfortunately, international trade in exotic pets are one of the primary reasons that species enter new environments where they can become a menace to the native species. Given the tegu's unique biological characteristics and its potential peril to the environment, the availability of an extremely high-quality genome sequence of this large lizard serves as a rich resource for identifying and analyzing the underlying molecular basis of these aspects.

The tegu genome sequence, provided by a team of researchers led by Michael Hiller at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden (Germany), is of unprecedented quality. To accomplish this the researchers used state-of-the-art technology to read the tegu's DNA and assemble its genome sequence. The newly released genome sequence of S. merianae is more than two billion DNA letters long and contains more than 22,000 genes. It is the most complete assembly of any reptile genome so far and will also aid scientists to study other lizards and snakes.

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