Chromosome-level genome assembly of Asian yellow pond turtle (Mauremys mutica) with temperature-dependent sex determination system

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 12; no. 1; p. 7905
• Main Authors: Liu, Xiaoli, Wang, Yakun, Yuan, Ju, Liu, Fang, Hong, Xiaoyou, Yu, Lingyun, Chen, Chen, Li, Wei, Ni, Wei, Liu, Haiyang, Zhao, Jian, Wei, Chengqing, Chen, Haigang, Liu, Yihui, Zhu, Xinping
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Nature Publishing Group 12.05.2022; Nature Publishing Group UK; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: Calcium signalling; Chromatin; Chromosomes; Conformation; Genetics; Genomes; Haplotypes; Mauremys mutica; Ponds; Sex determination; Signal transduction
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-12054-2

Knowledge of sex determination has important implications in physiology, ecology and genetics, but the evolutionary mechanisms of sex determination systems in turtles have not been fully elucidated, due to a lack of reference genomes. Here, we generate a high-quality genome assembly of Asian yellow pond turtle (Mauremys mutica) using continuous long-read (PacBio platform), Illumina, and high-throughput chromatin conformation capture (Hi-C) technologies. The M. mutica haplotype has a genome size of 2.23 Gb with a contig N50 of 8.53 Mb and scaffold N50 of 141.98 Mb. 99.98% sequences of the total assembly are anchored to 26 pseudochromosomes. Comparative genomics analysis indicated that the lizard-snake-tuatara clade diverged from the bird-crocodilian-turtle clade at approximately 267.0-312.3 Mya. Intriguingly, positive selected genes are mostly enriched in the calcium signaling pathway and neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction, which are involved in the process of temperature-dependent sex determination. These findings provide important evolutionary insights into temperature-dependent sex determination system.