The genome of the Australian water dragon (Intellagama lesueurii), an agamid model for urban adaptation

Daniel Powell; Nicola Jackson; Parwinder Kaur; Olga Dudchenko; Erez Lieberman Aiden; Arthur Georges; Céline H Frère

doi:10.1093/jhered/esae054

The genome of the Australian water dragon (Intellagama lesueurii), an agamid model for urban adaptation

J Hered. 2024 Oct 4:esae054. doi: 10.1093/jhered/esae054. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Daniel Powell^{1

2}, Nicola Jackson¹, Parwinder Kaur³, Olga Dudchenko^{4

5}, Erez Lieberman Aiden^{4

5

6}, Arthur Georges⁷, Céline H Frère¹

Affiliations

¹ School of the Environment, University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, Australia.
² Centre for Bioinnovation, University of the Sunshine Coast, Sippy Downs, QLD, Australia.
³ UWA School of Agriculture and Environment, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia.
⁴ The Center for Genome Architecture, Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA.
⁵ The Center for Theoretical Biological Physics, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA.
⁶ Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA.
⁷ Institute for Applied Ecology, University of Canberra ACT 2601 Australia.

PMID: 39364696
DOI: 10.1093/jhered/esae054

Abstract

Squamate reptiles are a highly diverse and intriguing group of tetrapods, offering valuable insights into the evolution of amniotes. The Australian water dragon (Intellagama lesueurii) is a member of the Agamidae, and sister to the core mesic Australian endemic radiation (Amphibolurinae). The species is renowned for its urban adaptability and complex social systems. We report a 1.8 Gb chromosome-length genome assembly together with the annotation of 23,675 protein-coding genes. Comparative analysis with other squamate genomes highlights gene family expansions associated with immune function, energetic homeostasis, and wound healing. This reference genome will serve as a valuable resource for studies of evolution and environmental resilience in lizards.

Keywords: Intellagama; chromosome-length; comparative analysis; reptile genome; water dragon.