Gila monster genomics: conservation, venom, and treatments for Type-II diabetes

Methods

Summary

This project will create two essential pieces of the goal of characterizing the Gila monster genome:

1. We will sequence one reference individual with two different library insert sizes (two lanes of sequencing) - this will help set a scaffold for the reference genome.

2. We will sequence DNA from three male and three female Gila monsters to allow us to investigate genetic variation among individuals, and to characterize their sex chromosomes.

The other component of this project will be paid for by startup to Dr. Wilson Sayres, and will involve a different sequencing technology (PacBio) for generating long reads (20kb) that will be used to orient the smaller genome scaffolds generated from this project to make a public reference genome available. The analysis proposed in this project (genetic variation, alignment and analysis of venom proteins, and identification of sex-linked regions) will occur if the project is funded, regardless of the PacBio.