TY - JOUR T1 - Sequencing and chromosome-scale assembly of the giant <em>Pleurodeles waltl</em> genome JF - bioRxiv DO - 10.1101/2022.10.19.512763 SP - 2022.10.19.512763 AU - Thomas Brown AU - Ahmed Elewa AU - Svetlana Iarovenko AU - Elaiyaraja Subramanian AU - Alberto Joven Araus AU - Andreas Petzold AU - Miyuki Susuki AU - Ken-ichi T. Suzuki AU - Toshinori Hayashi AU - Atsushi Toyoda AU - Catarina Oliveira AU - Ekaterina Osipova AU - Nicholas D. Leigh AU - Andras Simon AU - Maximina H. Yun Y1 - 2022/01/01 UR - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/10/20/2022.10.19.512763.abstract N2 - The Iberian ribbed newt (Pleurodeles waltl) constitutes a central model for probing the basis of regeneration. Here, we present the sequencing and chromosome-scale assembly of the 20.3Gb P.waltl genome, which exhibits the highest level of contiguity and completeness among giant genomes. We uncover that DNA transposable elements are the major contributors to its expansion, with hAT transposons comprising a large portion of repeats. Several hATs are actively transcribed and differentially expressed during adult P.waltl limb regeneration, along with domesticated hAT transposons of the ZBED transcription factor family. Despite its size, syntenic relationships are conserved across the genome. As an example we show the high degree of conservation of the regeneration-associated Tig1 locus with several neighbouring genes. Together, the P.waltl genome provides a fundamental resource for the study of regenerative, developmental and evolutionary principles.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest. ER -