The Hermann's tortoise (Testudo hermanni hermanni) is a charismatic land turtle native to Catalunya, critically endangered by habitat destruction and pet trade. Moreover, this is a species vulnerable to global warming due to its sex determination system based on environmental temperature, inducing population declines. The absence of high-quality genomic resources is limiting population monitoring and obscuring our understanding of their unique adaptations and conservation needs.

This project is funded by the Institute of Catalan Studies, throught the Catalan Initiative for the Earth BioGenome Project.

ROLE OF CNAG

Our main objective is to build a high-quality chromosome-level reference genome assembly of Testudo using long-read sequencing and chromosome conformation capture techniques, which will be annotated using RNAseq data. High molecular weight DNA will be obtained from already sampled blood samples of a male individual of known geographic origin from the Centre de Recuperació d'Amfibis i Rèptils de Catalunya. Likewise, RNA will be obtained from already available tissues (muscle, heart, liver and testis).

COORDINATION

Dr. Aurora Ruiz Herrera (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) will conduct this research.