RT Journal Article
T1 Genomic insights into the Montseny brook newt (Calotriton arnoldi), a Critically Endangered glacial relict
A1 Talavera, Adrián
A1 Palmada Flores, Marc
A1 Burriel Carranza, Bernat
A1 Valbuena Ureña, Emilio
A1 Mochales Riaño, Gabriel
A1 Adams, Dean
A1 Tejero Cicuéndez, Hector
A1 Soler Membrives, Anna
A1 Amat, Fèlix
A1 Guinart, Daniel
A1 Carbonell, Francesc
A1 Obon, Elena
A1 Marquès Bonet, Tomàs
A1 Carranza, Salvador
AB The Montseny brook newt (Calotriton arnoldi), considered the most endangered amphibian in Europe, is a relict salamandrid species endemic to a small massif located in northeastern Spain. Although conservation efforts should always be guided by genomic studies, those are yet scarce among urodeles, hampered by the extreme sizes of their genomes. Here, we present the third available genome assembly for the order Caudata, and the first genomic study of the species and its sister taxon, the Pyrenean brook newt (Calotriton asper), combining whole-genome and ddRADseq data. Our results reveal significant demographic oscillations which accurately mirrored Europe’s climatic history. Although severe bottlenecks have led to depauperate genomic diversity and long runs of homozygosity along a gigantic genome, inbreeding might have been avoided by assortative mating strategies. Other life history traits, however, seem to have been less advantageous, and the lack of land dispersal has driven to exceptional levels of population fragmentation.
PB Elsevier
SN 2589-0042
YR 2024
FD 2024-01-19
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/120469
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/120469
LA eng
NO Talavera, A., Palmada-Flores, M., Burriel-Carranza, B., Valbuena-Ureña, E., Mochales-Riaño, G., Adams, D. C., Tejero-Cicuéndez, H., Soler-Membrives, A., Amat, F., Guinart, D., Carbonell, F., Obon, E., Marquès-Bonet, T., & Carranza, S. (2024). Genomic insights into the Montseny brook newt (Calotriton arnoldi), a Critically Endangered glacial relict. iScience, 27(1). https://doi.org/10.1016/J.ISCI.2023.108665
NO AT is supported by “la Caixa” doctoral fellowship programme (LCF/BQ/DR20/11790007). MP-F is supported by “la Caixa” doctoral fellowship programme (LCF/BQ/DR20/11790032). BB-C was funded by FPU grant from Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, Spain (FPU18/04742). GM-R was funded by an FPI grant from the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, Spain (PRE2019-088729). HT-C is supported by a Juan de la Cierva – Formación postdoctoral fellowship (FJC2021-046832-I) funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by the European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR. The work was funded by the grants PGC2018-098290-B-I00 (MCIU/AEI/FEDER, UE), Spain, and PID2021-128901NB-I00 (MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by ERDF, A way of making Europe), Spain to SC.
NO Fundació "la Caixa"
NO Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (España)
NO European Commission
DS Docta Complutense
RD 21 dic 2025