BLAST Genome: This assembly represents a single individual from the AGSC and was generated using 600 Gb of HiSeq paired end reads and 640Gb of HiSeq mate pair reads. Reads were assembled using a modified version of SparseAssembler [Ye C, et al. 2012]. The resulting draft assembly covers 21Gb in 21M (21,007,744) scaffolds with N50/L50 of 27236/216411. For those interested in single-copy genes, these tend to be found on longer scaffolds, but we recommend caution in interpreting negative alignment results. Several analyses aimed at increasing megabase/chromosome-level contiguity and gap filling are ongoing and will be incorporated at a future date.

 

Smith JJ, Timoshevskaya N, Timoshevskiy VA, Keinath MC, Hardy D, Voss SR. 2019. A chromosome-scale assembly of the enormous (32 Gb) axolotl genome. Genome Research, In press.

 

Fun Facts

How long do axolotls and other salamanders live?

Salamanders have life spans varying by species. They live from 3 to 55 years. The axolotl’s life span is on the shorter side of this range.