Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 30, 2025

Generation of Chimeric Axolotls with Mutant Haploid Limbs Through Embryonic Grafting
Published on: January 29, 2020
Chromosome-scale genome assembly reveals how repeat elements shape non-coding RNA landscapes active during newt limb
Thomas Brown1, Ketan Mishra2, Ahmed Elewa3
1DRESDEN-concept Genome Center (DcGC), Center for Molecular and Cellular Bioengineering, Technische Universität Dresden, 01307 Dresden, Germany; Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, 01307 Dresden, Germany.
Abstract:
Newts have large genomes harboring many repeat elements. How these elements shape the genome and relate to newts' unique regeneration ability remains unknown. We present here the chromosome-scale assembly of the 20.3 Gb genome of the Iberian ribbed newt, Pleurodeles waltl, with a hitherto unprecedented contiguity and completeness among giant genomes. Utilizing this assembly, we demonstrate conserved synteny as well as genetic rearrangements, such as in the major histocompatibility complex locus. We provide evidence suggesting that intronic repeat elements drive newt-specific circular RNA (circRNA) biogenesis and show their regeneration-specific expression. We also present a comprehensive in-depth annotation and chromosomal mapping of microRNAs, highlighting genomic expansion profiles as well as a distinct regulatory pattern in the regenerating limb. These data reveal links between repeat elements, non-coding RNAs, and adult regeneration and provide key resources for addressing developmental, regenerative, and evolutionary principles.
Related Concept Videos
Whole Body Regeneration
lncRNA - Long Non-coding RNAs
Cis-regulatory Sequences
Non-LTR Retrotransposons
Methods of Nuclear Reprogramming
Alternative RNA Splicing
There are five types of alternative RNA splicing that vary in the ways the pre-mRNA segments are removed or retained in the mature mRNA. The first...

