A chromosome-level genome assembly for the desert scorpion Mesobuthus przewalskii from Asian drylands

2024/10/21 by Yan-Kai Su, Ming-Hua Xiu, Hao-Yan Yang +1 · 1 voice
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Ion channel regulation and function #Venomous Animal Envenomation and Studies

paper · doi:10.1093/jhered/esae059

openalex publication_date 2024/10/21 · openalex created_date 2024/10/22 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/01

Abstract

Scorpions are an ancient and charismatic group of arthropods with medical importance, but a high-quality reference genome for this group is still lacking. Here we perform whole-genome sequencing of Mesobuthus przewalskii, a desert scorpion endemic to the Taklimakan Desert. We combine PacBio HiFi sequencing and Hi-C chromosome conformation capturing to generate chromosomal-level, haplotype-resolved, and fully annotated genome assembly for this medically important scorpion. The assembly consists of two haplotypes (1,052.01 Mbp and 1,055.19 Mbp, respectively) reaching chromosome-level contiguity and >98% BUSCO (Benchmarking Universal Single-Copy Orthologs) completeness. Sequences were anchored in 13 chromosomes with a contig N50 of 34.44 Mbp and scaffold N50 of 81.43 Mbp. Several key genome features and the mitochondrial genome assembly were also provided. This genome represents the fifth but the most complete assembly for the order Scorpiones.

Citations

• GenomeScope 2.0 and Smudgeplot for reference-free profiling of polyploid genomes
• MitoFinder: Efficient automated large‐scale extraction of mitogenomic data in target enrichment phylogenomics
• RepeatModeler2 for automated genomic discovery of transposable element families
• Haplotype-resolved de novo assembly with phased assembly graphs
• Merqury: reference-free quality, completeness, and phasing assessment for genome assemblies
• MitoHiFi: a python pipeline for mitochondrial genome assembly from PacBio high fidelity reads
• TBtools-II: A “one for all, all for one” bioinformatics platform for biological big-data mining

Discussions

• This fully annotated genome assembly provides valuable insights into the genetic makeup of these ancient arthropods with medical importance. Article here: doi.org/10.1093/jher... corresponding author [bsky, 0 points, 0 comments]

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