Genome of the Guatemalan Beaded Lizard (Heloderma charlesbogerti) reveals historical populations sizes and biogeography

Mendelson III, Joseph R.

Zoo Atlanta

Georgia Institute of Technology

Atlanta, Georgia USA

Ariano-Sanchez, Daniel

Universidad del Valle

Guatemala City, GT

Dyson, Carl J.

Pfennig, Aaron

Lachance, Joseph .

Goodisman, Michael A. D

Georgia Institute of Technology

Atlanta, Georgia USA

Fewer than 600 mature individuals of the species are believed to persist in the wild. Here, we report the draft genome of the Guatemalan Beaded Lizard (Heloderma charlesbogerti) using DNA from a wild- caught individual. The assembled genome totals 2.31Gb in length, similar in size to the genomes of related species; we identified 31,411protein-coding genes within the genome. We identified a decline in the effective population size approximately 400,000 years ago, followed by a stabilization before starting to dwindle again 60,000 years ago. We used a total-evidence to describe a possible historical scenario to explain the current, geographically limited distribution of this species of helodermatid lizard.