{"id":30896,"date":"2020-08-05T17:08:12","date_gmt":"2020-08-05T15:08:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/?p=30896"},"modified":"2024-03-22T11:01:34","modified_gmt":"2024-03-22T10:01:34","slug":"the-curious-genome-of-the-tuatara","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science\/the-curious-genome-of-the-tuatara\/","title":{"rendered":"The curious genome of the tuatara, an ancient reptile in peril"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A global team of researchers has partnered up with the M\u0101ori tribe Ng\u0101tiwai to sequence the genome of the tuatara, a rare reptile endemic to New Zealand. Their work, published in the scientific journal Nature<\/em><\/a>, lays the foundation for understanding the evolution of this ancient species, and can inform conservation efforts to protect it. The study included collaborators at the University of Otago and at EMBL\u2019s European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With its small, scaly body, pointy tail, and clawed feet, the tuatara seems to tick all the boxes to be a lizard \u2013 yet it isn\u2019t. This ancient reptile is the sole survivor of its own evolutionary branch on the tree of life, the Sphenodontia. Until now, biologists had not reached consensus on the evolutionary history of tuatara \u2013 whether they are more closely related to birds, crocodiles, and turtles, or if they stemmed from an ancestor shared with lizards and snakes.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur research confirms that tuatara have diverged from the ancestor of lizards and snakes about 250 million years ago,\u201d says Matthieu Muffato, the analysis lead from Ensembl<\/a> comparative genomics at EMBL-EBI. \u201cThis long period of independent evolution explains why we found the tuatara genome to be so unlike those of other vertebrates.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A biological curiosity<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe tuatara genome is considerably bigger than the human genome, and it has a unique constitution. It contains a lot of repetitive DNA segments that are unique to the species and have no known function,\u201d explains Fergal Martin, Vertebrate Annotation Coordinator at EMBL-EBI. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sequence of the tuatara genome revealed a number of aspects of this reptile\u2019s lifestyle. Although tuatara are predominantly nocturnal animals, their DNA carries a high number of genes involved in colour vision, which might help day-active juveniles escape from their predators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If they survive the vagaries of their juvenile life, tuatara can live to be more than 100 years old. Scientists examining some of the genes implicated in protecting the body from ageing have found that tuatara have more of these genes than any other vertebrate species yet examined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCould this be one of the keys to their long lifespan? Tuatara also don\u2019t appear to get many diseases, so looking into what genetic factors might protect them from infection was another point of focus for our study,\u201d says Neil Gemmell, Professor and Team Leader at the University of Otago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A vulnerable icon<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe tuatara is an iconic species, both for the M\u0101ori and for biologists. It has a unique biology and its basic body shape hasn’t changed much over evolutionary time, so it\u2019s a precious species for us to understand what the common ancestor of lizards, snakes, and tuatara was like,\u201d explains Paul Flicek, Associate Director of EMBL-EBI Services<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The scientists hope that their findings on the genome and biology of the tuatara will inform conservation efforts to protect this unusual reptile. Tuatara used to thrive in New Zealand before the first human settlers brought invasive predators such as rats 800 years ago. The tuatara\u2019s extremely slow life cycle is no match for the voracity of its predators: when it comes to reproduction, tuatara take the scenic route. They sometimes need more than 10 years to reach sexual maturity, and they produce young only every two to five years. Although the species\u2019 conservation status is of \u201cleast concern\u201d according to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species<\/a>, the tuatara relies on active conservation management to prevent the establishment of invasive species on the islands where it survives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cVery early on it became clear that a primary goal for us all was to develop new knowledge that would improve the conservation of this species. We agreed to partner together with Ng\u0101tiwai to achieve that aim, whilst also looking for opportunities to share other benefits that might derive from the research. It was an informed partnership that I believe was an important enabling element for the project\u2019s success, which extends well beyond the scientific achievement of sequencing the genome,\u201d says Gemmell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Funding<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

This work was co-funded by the Wellcome Trust.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A global team of researchers including the Flicek Team at EMBL-EBI has partnered up with the M\u0101ori tribe Ng\u0101tiwai to sequence the genome of the tuatara, a rare reptile endemic to New Zealand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":76,"featured_media":30934,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17591],"tags":[848,36,85,889,778,41,664,42,842,2032],"embl_taxonomy":[2906],"class_list":["post-30896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science","category-science-technology","tag-conservation","tag-embl-ebi","tag-ensembl","tag-flicek","tag-gene","tag-genetics","tag-genome","tag-genomics","tag-hinxton","tag-sequencing","embl_taxonomy-embl-ebi"],"acf":{"featured":true,"show_featured_image":false,"color":"#007B53","link_color":"#fff","article_intro":"

Researchers have sequenced the genome of the tuatara, revealing its unique evolutionary history<\/p>\n","related_links":[{"link_description":"The genome of the platypus","link_url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science\/platypus-genome-sequence-published\/"},{"link_description":"The tsetse fly and its genome","link_url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science\/tsetse-fly-genome-sequenced\/"},{"link_description":"Sequencing the genomes of all UK eukaryotes","link_url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science\/genomes-of-all-known-uk-species-to-be-sequenced\/"}],"article_sources":[{"source_description":"

Gemmell, N.J., et al<\/em>. The tuatara genome reveals ancient features of amniote evolution. Nature<\/em>. Published online 05 August 2020. DOI: 10.1038\/s41586-020-2561-9<\/p>\n","source_link_url":"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-020-2561-9"}],"in_this_article":false,"youtube_url":"","mp4_url":"","video_caption":"","press_contact":"EMBL-EBI Generic","translations":false,"vf_locked":false},"embl_taxonomy_terms":[{"uuid":"a:3:{i:0;s:36:\"b14d3f13-5670-44fb-8970-e54dfd9c921a\";i:1;s:36:\"89e00fee-87f4-482e-a801-4c3548bb6a58\";i:2;s:36:\"a99d1a7c-ca83-4c00-ab61-d082d3e41ce3\";}","parents":[],"name":["EMBL-EBI"],"slug":"embl-ebi","description":"Where > All EMBL sites > EMBL-EBI"}],"yoast_head":"\nThe curious genome of the tuatara, an ancient reptile in peril | EMBL<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Scientists and a M\u0101ori tribe teamed up to sequence the curious genome of a rare reptile, the tuatara, uncovering some aspects of its biology.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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