A Good Week in Anole Genomics

The Panamanian Anolis apletophallus is the most recent anole reference genome and the first mainland species to have one. Photo credit to agonzalo on iNaturalist (license CC 4.0).

This week, anoles are in the genomic spotlight for three papers– Pirani et al. (2023), Taft et al. (2023), and Farleigh et al. (2023). I’ve briefly highlighted each below, but check em’ all out!

New literature alert!

Pirani et al. (2023) usher in a new age of Anolis lizard biology by publishing the first mainland anole reference genome– a Panamanian species, Anolis apletophallus. It’s a great assembly (scaffold N50 of 154 Mb with an estimated 2.4 Gbp genome), and will be an excellent resource for the community as we continue to expand our genomic stockpile for this group. Give their new paper a read in G3: Genes, Genomes, and Genetics.

Taft et al. (2023) provide the first reference genomes for two species of Bradypodion, the dwarf chameleons. Synteny analysis (looking at gene order conservation across chromosomes) between the two chameleons and Anolis sagrei demonstrates relatively conserved genomic structure across greater than 150 million years of divergence!

Farleigh et al. (2023) investigate the natural hybridization of two Puerto Rican grass anoles–A. pulchellus andA. krugi–using a ddRAD approach (genome-wide SNPs) to understand the directionality of introgression, and how this pattern of introgression is differentially reflected in the genomes of populations across the island.