The genome of the green anole lizard and a comparative analysis with birds and mammals

The first non-avian reptile genome has been sequenced, that of the North American green anole lizard (Anolis carolinensis). The anole is an emerging model for the study of adaptive radiation and convergent evolution. The genome includes a previously unknown X chromosome, with no homology to known amniote sex chromosomes, and microchromosomes that share a common ancestry with those in birds, but without their unusual characteristics. The evolution of the amniotic egg was one of the great evolutionary innovations in the history of life, freeing vertebrates from an obligatory connection to water and thus permitting the conquest of terrestrial environments1. Among amniotes, genome sequences are available for…

• NS
  National Science Foundation

  Awards: 0920892, DEB-0844624, 0844624
• DA
  David and Lucile Packard Foundation
• UO
  University of Georgia
• BI
  Broad Institute
• BA
  Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council

  Award: BB/F007590/1
• NH
  National Human Genome Research Institute