A revised leopard gecko (Eublepharis macularius) reference genome

As genomic resources across squamate reptiles (lizards and snakes) have lagged behind other vertebrate systems, such as birds and mammals, high quality reference genomes across the group are scarce. Indeed, of the 23 chromosome-scale reference genomes across the order only 12 of the ~60 squamate families are represented. Within geckos (infraorder Gekkota), a species-rich clade of lizards, chromosome-level genomes are exceptionally sparse representing only two of the seven extant gecko families. Using the latest advances in genome sequencing and assembly methods, we add a gekkotan third family to this list by generating an updated reference genome for the leopard gecko, Eublepharis macularius (Eublepharidae). This updated reference genome, sequenced using PacBio HiFi, was assembled into only 132 contigs and was further scaffolded using HiC data into 75 total scaffolds, with all 19 chromosomes represented. We determined that 9 of the 19 chromosomes were assembled as single contigs, while the other 10 chromosomes were scaffolded together from two or more contigs.