The Himalayan Arc is recognized as a global biodiversity hotspot. Among its numerous cryptic and undiscovered organisms, this composite high-mountain ecosystem harbors many taxa with adaptations to life in high elevations. However, evolutionary patterns and genomic features have been relatively rarely studied in Himalayan vertebrates. Here, we provide the first well-annotated transcriptome of a Greater Himalayan reptile species, the Ladakh Ground skink Asymblepharus ladacensis (Squamata: Scincidae). Based on tissues from the brain, an embryonic disc, and pooled organ material, using pair-end Illumina NextSeq 500 RNAseq, we assembled ~77,000 transcripts, which were annotated using seven functional databases. We tested ~1600 genes, known to be under positive selection in anurans and reptiles adapted to high elevations, and potentially detected positive selection for 114 of these genes in Asymblepharus. Even though the strength of these results is limited due to the single-animal approach, our transcriptome resource may be valuable data for further studies on squamate reptile evolution in the Himalayas as a hotspot of biodiversity.

中文翻译：

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拉达克地面石龙子转录组数据的从头组装、注释和分析提供了高海拔适应的遗传信息

喜马拉雅弧被公认为全球生物多样性热点。在其众多神秘和未被发现的生物中，这个复合的高山生态系统拥有许多适应高海拔生活的分类群。然而，在喜马拉雅脊椎动物中，进化模式和基因组特征的研究相对较少。在这里，我们提供了大喜马拉雅爬行动物物种 Ladakh Ground skink Asymblepharus ladacensis的第一个注释良好的转录组（有鳞目：Scincidae）。基于大脑组织、胚胎盘和合并的器官材料，我们使用双末端 Illumina NextSeq 500 RNAseq，组装了约 77,000 个转录本，并使用七个功能数据库对其进行了注释。我们测试了约 1600 个基因，已知这些基因在适应高海拔的无尾类动物和爬行动物中处于阳性选择状态，并可能在Asymblepharus中检测到其中 114 个基因的阳性选择。尽管这些结果的强度由于单一动物方法而受到限制，但我们的转录组资源可能是进一步研究喜马拉雅山脉作为生物多样性热点的鳞状爬行动物进化的宝贵数据。