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Chromosome-level genome assembly of the European leaf-toed gecko, Euleptes europaea

Paris, J. R.; Abueg, L.; Pelan, S.; Sims, Y.; Tilley, T.; Mountcastle, J.; Balacco, J.; OToole, B.; Fedrigo, O.; Formenti, G.; Jarvis, E. D.; Canestrelli, D.; Salvi, D.

2026-08-18 genomics
10.64898/2026.08.10.744031 bioRxiv
Show abstract

The European leaf-toed gecko (Euleptes europaea) is a small, nocturnal gecko endemic to the western Mediterranean. As a phylogenetically distinctive member of the Gondwanan family Sphaerodactylidae, it represents an important species for studying Mediterranean island biogeography, adaptation, and reptile genome evolution. The species also occupies a key position for investigating the evolution of sex chromosomes, as geckos exhibit remarkable diversity and frequent transitions in sex-determination systems. We present a chromosome-level genome assembly of Euleptes europaea generated as part of the Vertebrate Genomes Project. The 1.8 Gb assembly has a scaffold N50 of 102.3 Mb (contig N50 27 Mb), with 21 chromosome-scale scaffolds corresponding to the known karyotype (2n = 42). The primary assembly has a BUSCO completeness of 97.80% (95.60% as single-copy), a k-mer completeness of 96.00%, and a k-mer quality value (QV) of 61.20. Repetitive elements account for 53.20% of the genome and genome annotation identified 18,633 protein-coding genes. This high-quality reference genome will facilitate studies of genome evolution, island adaptation, and sex chromosome evolution across geckos and other reptiles.

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