Chromosome-level genome assembly of Norwegian wild alpine reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus)

Torresen, O. K.; Tooming-Klunderud, A.; Skage, M.; Streitlien, A. E.; Strand, O.; Rolandsen, C.; Ferrari, G.; Cerca, J.; Mysterud, A.; Jakobsen, K. S.

doi:10.1101/2025.05.15.652595

bioRxiv · 10.1101/2025.05.15.652595

Chromosome-level genome assembly of Norwegian wild alpine reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus)

Torresen, O. K.·Tooming-Klunderud, A.·Skage, M.·Streitlien, A. E.·Strand, O.·Rolandsen, C.·Ferrari, G.·Cerca, J.·Mysterud, A.·Jakobsen, K. S.

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Abstract

We describe a chromosome-level genome assembly from a wild alpine reindeer individual (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) from the Rondane area in Southern Norway. The assembly is resolved into two pseudo-haplotypes: hap 1 spanning 3,081 megabases and hap 2 spanning 2,633 megabases. Contig N50 and scaffold N50 lengths are in the range of 31-41 Mb and 66-69 Mb, respectively. A large part of these two haplotypes (83.8% and 90.4%, respectively) are scaffolded into 34 autosomal chromosomal pseudomolecules, and in sex chromosomes X and Y for hap 1. The BUSCO completeness scores are 98.0% and 95.2%, respectively, and gene annotations of the assemblies identified 37,998 and 36,977 protein-coding genes. We also present an updated and improved genome assembly for Svalbard reindeer (Rangifer tarandus platyrhynchus) and a comparison with previously published genome assemblies of reindeer.

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Torresen, O. K., Tooming-Klunderud, A., Skage, M., Streitlien, A. E., Strand, O., Rolandsen, C., Ferrari, G., Cerca, J., Mysterud, A., Jakobsen, K. S.. 2025-05-16. Chromosome-level genome assembly of Norwegian wild alpine reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus). https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.05.15.652595

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