Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40825570›Full record

ArticleGigaScience2025

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

Qunfei Guo, Youliang Pan, Wei Dai, Fei Guo, Tao Zeng, Wanyi Chen, Yaping Mi, Yanshu Zhang, Shuaizhen Shi, Wei Jiang and 14 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in GigaScience, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

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0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

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PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

24 authors.

Qunfei GuoBGI Research, Wuhan 430074, China.ORCID 0000-0001-8530-3649
Youliang PanBGI Research, Wuhan 430074, China.ORCID 0000-0001-9286-759X
Wei DaiBGI Research, Wuhan 430074, China.
Fei GuoBGI Research, Shenzhen 518083, China.
Tao ZengBGI Research, Shenzhen 518083, China.
Wanyi ChenBGI Research, Shenzhen 518083, China.
Yaping MiBGI Research, Wuhan 430074, China.
Yanshu ZhangBGI Research, Wuhan 430074, China.
Shuaizhen ShiBGI Research, Wuhan 430074, China.
Wei JiangBGI Research, Shenzhen 518083, China.
Huimin CaiWomen's Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310058, China.
Beiying WuBGI Research, Wuhan 430074, China.
Yang ZhouState Key Laboratory of Genome and Multi-omics Technologies, BGI Research, Shenzhen 518083, China.ORCID 0000-0003-1247-5049
Ying WangBGI Research, Wuhan 430074, China.
Chentao YangState Key Laboratory of Genome and Multi-omics Technologies, BGI Research, Shenzhen 518083, China.ORCID 0000-0003-3447-2316
Xiao ShiBGI Research, Shenzhen 518083, China.
Xu YanBGI Research, Shenzhen 518083, China.
Junyi ChenBGI Research, Shenzhen 518083, China.
Chongyang CaiBGI Research, Shenzhen 518083, China.
Jingnan YangBGI Research, Shenzhen 518083, China.
Xun XuState Key Laboratory of Genome and Multi-omics Technologies, BGI Research, Shenzhen 518083, China.ORCID 0000-0002-5338-5173
Ying GuState Key Laboratory of Genome and Multi-omics Technologies, BGI Research, Shenzhen 518083, China.
Yuliang DongState Key Laboratory of Genome and Multi-omics Technologies, BGI Research, Shenzhen 518083, China.
Qiye LiBGI Research, Wuhan 430074, China.ORCID 0000-0002-5993-0312

Funding

National Key R&D Program of China 2024TFC3406300 to Y.D.National Natural Science Foundation of China 32370666 to Q.L.
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundVertebrate 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.

resultsUsing 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: 202.5 Mb vs. 35.5 kb) and achieved complete chromosome anchoring (16 vs. 13,749 scaffolds). We found that over 80% of the P. vitticeps Z chromosome remains as a pseudo-autosomal region, where recombination is not suppressed. The sexually differentiated region (SDR) is small and occupied mostly by transposons, yet it aggregates genes involved in male development, such as AMH, AMHR2, and BMPR1A. Finally, by tracking the evolutionary origin and developmental expression of SDR genes, we proposed a model for the origin of P. vitticeps sex chromosomes that considered the Z-linked AMH as the master sex-determining gene.

conclusionsIn this study, we fully characterized the Z sex chromosome of P. vitticeps, identified AMH as the candidate sex-determining gene, and proposed a new model for the origin of P. vitticeps sex chromosomes. The near-complete P. vitticeps reference genome will also benefit future study of reptile evolution.

Indexed as

GenomeLizardsSex ChromosomesAnimalsEvolution, MolecularFemaleMaleSex Determination ProcessesCycloneSEQgenome assemblyPogona vitticepssex-determining gene

Identifiers

PMID40825570
PMCPMC12360845

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.