Chromosome-Level Genome Assemblies of Darevskia mixta and Darevskia valentini: A Platform for Studying Parthenogenesis in Caucasian Rock Lizards

Darevskia lizards attract the attention of many biologists due to the emergence of parthenogenetic species within the genus. In this study, we present chromosome-level genome assemblies of Darevskia mixta (Méhely, 1909) and Darevskia valentini (Boettger, 1892), two species whose distant ancestors hybridized and formed a parthenogenetic taxon. Genomic DNA was sequenced using the PacBio platform. Primary genome assemblies were generated from ~60 Gb (D. mixta) and ~35 Gb (D. valentini) of the processed PacBio data using HiFiasm and reference-scaffolded. The final genome sequences of D. mixta and D. valentini each span ~1.4 Gb, comprising 19 (18 autosomes and the Z chromosome) and 20 (18 autosomes and the Z and W chromosomes) scaffolds, with N50 scaffold values of 91.1 and 97.5 Mb, respectively. Both genome sequences contain ~42% repeats and encode ~41 thousand predicted genes. The assemblies share major structural similarity, but feature a number of inversions and translocations relative to each other. The obtained assemblies represent the first quality platform for unraveling the genetic features associated with the emergence and maintenance of parthenogenesis in Darevskia lizards.