A Chromosome-Level Genome Assembly for the Rock Ptarmigan (Lagopus muta)

Rodin Morch, P. E.; Squires, T. E.; Formenti, G.; Tracey, A.; Abueg, L. A.; Brajuka, N.; Jarvis, E. D.; Melsted, P.; Höglund, J.; Magnusson, K. P.

doi:10.1101/2023.01.31.526508

bioRxiv · 10.1101/2023.01.31.526508

A Chromosome-Level Genome Assembly for the Rock Ptarmigan (Lagopus muta)

Rodin Morch, P. E.·Squires, T. E.·Formenti, G.·Tracey, A.·Abueg, L. A.·Brajuka, N.·Jarvis, E. D.·Melsted, P.·Höglund, J.·Magnusson, K. P.

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Abstract

The Rock Ptarmigan (Lagopus muta) is a cold-adapted, largely sedentary, game bird with a Holarctic distribution. The species represents an important example of an organism likely to be affected by ongoing climatic shifts across a disparate range. We provide here a high-quality reference genome and mitogenome for the Rock Ptarmigan assembled from PacBio HiFi and Hi-C sequencing of a female bird from Iceland. The total size of the genome is 1.03 Gb with a scaffold N50 of 71.23 Mb and a contig N50 of 17.91 Mb. The final scaffolds represent all 40 predicted chromosomes, and the mitochondria with a BUSCO score of 98.6%. Gene annotation resulted in 16,078 protein-coding genes out of a total 19,831 predicted (81.08% excluding pseudogenes). The genome included 21.07% repeat sequences, and the average length of genes, exons, and introns were, 33605, 394, and 4265 bp respectively. The availability of a new reference-quality genome will contribute to understanding the Rock Ptarmigans unique evolutionary history, vulnerability to climate change, and demographic trajectories around the globe and serve as a reference genome for the species in the family Tetraonidae (order Galliformes).

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Rodin Morch, P. E., Squires, T. E., Formenti, G., Tracey, A., Abueg, L. A., Brajuka, N., Jarvis, E. D., Melsted, P., Höglund, J., Magnusson, K. P.. 2023-02-03. A Chromosome-Level Genome Assembly for the Rock Ptarmigan (Lagopus muta). https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.01.31.526508

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