Comparative genome biology of the Gila monster
Pinto, Brendan J.
brendanjohnpinto@gmail.com
School of Life Sciences
Arizona State University
Tempe, Arizona USA
Center for Evolution and Medicine
Arizona State University
Tempe, Arizona USA
The 11,671 currently recognized extant species of squamate reptiles (lizards and snakes) exhibit remarkable diversity in myriad traits including (but not limited to) sex determination, diel activity, and prey capture/defense. One group with exceptional diversity in these traits is the 250 extant species within the infraorder Anguimorpha. Anguimorphs are a clade of charismatic taxa, including monitor lizards (Varanus), glass lizards (Ophisaurus), the crocodile lizard (Shinisaurus), and beaded lizards (Heloderma). Among these amazing animals is the “near-mythical” Gila monster (Heloderma suspectum), which displays an impressive combination of these interesting traits. Fortunately, due to the nature of these specific traits, genomic analyses stand to provide enormous insight into each. Since the recent publication of the draft genome of the Gila monster, technological advances in genome sequencing have proven far more effective for analyzing these genomic features. To examine the interesting biology of the Gila monster, we aim to reassemble the Gila monster genome at the chromosome-scale and use comparative genomic analysis to examine these traits in a comparative context among other squamates.