The Draft Genome Sequences of 50 Salamander species (Caudata, Amphibia)

Abstract

We present partial genome sequences of 50 salamander species (Urodela) from 10 genera and 4 families. These span nearly the entire range of genome sizes in salamanders, from ~14–130GB, the latter of which is among the largest of all animal genomes. Only three salamander genomes were available to this point, from Ambystomatidae (one species) and Salamandridae (two species from two genera), to which we have added Amphiumidae (one species), Plethodontidae (45 species from 6 genera), Proteidae (one species), and Sirenidae (three species from two genera). These span ~140 million years of evolutionary divergence, leaving only Cryptobranchidae, Hynobiidae, and Rhyacotritonidae as salamander families without genome assemblies. These data should facilitate additional future work on speciation and genome evolution, both within Urodela and across Animalia.