Chromosome-level genome assembly of Turpan wonder gecko (Teratoscincus roborowskii) reveals olfactory candidate genes

Teratoscincus roborowskii, an endemic species to China, is of particular interest due to its unique biological characteristics. It is a strictly nocturnal reptile that inhabits extremely harsh environmen. In this study, we generated the first chromosome level genome assembly of T. roborowskii using PacBio circular consensus sequencing (CCS) combined with Hi-C scaffolding. The genome assembly at the contig level was mounted onto chromosomes, with approximately 2,077.46 Mb of sequence allocated to 18 chromosomes, accounting for 99.92% of the total length. Among the sequences mapped to the chromosomes, approximately 2,070.96 Mb have determined order and orientation, making up 99.69% of the total length of the mapped sequences, with a contig N50 and scaffold N50 values of 117.38 Mb and 156.21 Mb respectively, and contains 21,341 predicted protein-coding genes, of which 99.62% were successfully annotated against public database. This high-quality genome not only fills a critical gap in genomic resources for this species, but also provides a valuable foundation for future study on its evolutionary history, gene functions and conservation biology.