Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA.
Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA.
Genome Biol Evol. 2024 May 2;16(5). doi: 10.1093/gbe/evae097.
Over 400 million years old, scorpions represent an ancient group of arachnids and one of the first animals to adapt to life on land. Presently, the lack of available genomes within scorpions hinders research on their evolution. This study leverages ultralong nanopore sequencing and Pore-C to generate the first chromosome-level assembly and annotation for the desert hairy scorpion, Hadrurus arizonensis. The assembled genome is 2.23 Gb in size with an N50 of 280 Mb. Pore-C scaffolding reoriented 99.6% of bases into nine chromosomes and BUSCO identified 998 (98.6%) complete arthropod single copy orthologs. Repetitive elements represent 54.69% of the assembled bases, including 872,874 (29.39%) LINE elements. A total of 18,996 protein-coding genes and 75,256 transcripts were predicted, and extracted protein sequences yielded a BUSCO score of 97.2%. This is the first genome assembled and annotated within the family Hadruridae, representing a crucial resource for closing gaps in genomic knowledge of scorpions, resolving arachnid phylogeny, and advancing studies in comparative and functional genomics.
已有超过 4 亿年历史的蝎子代表了古老的蛛形纲动物群之一，也是最早适应陆地生活的动物之一。目前，蝎子中可用基因组的缺乏阻碍了对其进化的研究。本研究利用超长纳米孔测序和 Pore-C 技术，为沙漠多毛蝎（Hadrurus arizonensis）生成了首个染色体水平的组装和注释。组装的基因组大小为 22.3 亿碱基对，N50 为 2.8 亿碱基对。Pore-C 支架将 99.6%的碱基重新定向到九条染色体上，BUSCO 鉴定出 998 个（98.6%）完整的节肢动物单拷贝直系同源物。重复元件占组装碱基对的 54.69%，包括 872,874 个（29.39%）LINE 元件。共预测到 18996 个蛋白质编码基因和 75256 个转录本，提取的蛋白质序列获得了 97.2%的 BUSCO 评分。这是首次在 Hadruridae 科内组装和注释基因组，为填补蝎子基因组知识空白、解析蛛形纲系统发育以及推进比较和功能基因组学研究提供了重要资源。
