Peona V, Palacios-Gimenez OM, Lutgen D, Olsen RA, Alaei Kakhki N, Andriopoulos P, Bontzorlos V, Schweizer M, Suh A, Burri R
G3 (Bethesda) 13 (6) - [2023-06-01; online 2023-04-25]
Pervasive convergent evolution and in part high incidences of hybridization distinguish wheatears (songbirds of the genus Oenanthe) as a versatile system to address questions at the forefront of research on the molecular bases of phenotypic and species diversification. To prepare the genomic resources for this venture, we here generated and annotated a chromosome-scale assembly of the Eastern black-eared wheatear (Oenanthe melanoleuca). This species is part of the Oenanthe hispanica complex that is characterized by convergent evolution of plumage coloration and high rates of hybridization. The long-read-based male nuclear genome assembly comprises 1.04 Gb in 32 autosomes, the Z chromosome, and the mitogenome. The assembly is highly contiguous (contig N50, 12.6 Mb; scaffold N50, 70 Mb), with 96% of the genome assembled at the chromosome level and 95.5% benchmarking universal single-copy orthologs (BUSCO) completeness. The nuclear genome was annotated with 18,143 protein-coding genes and 31,333 mRNAs (annotation BUSCO completeness, 98.0%), and about 10% of the genome consists of repetitive DNA. The annotated chromosome-scale reference genome of Eastern black-eared wheatear provides a crucial resource for research into the genomics of adaptation and speciation in an intriguing group of passerines.
Bioinformatics Support for Computational Resources [Service]
NGI Stockholm (Genomics Applications) [Service]
NGI Stockholm (Genomics Production) [Service]
NGI Uppsala (Uppsala Genome Center) [Service]
National Genomics Infrastructure [Service]
PubMed 37097035
DOI 10.1093/g3journal/jkad088
Crossref 10.1093/g3journal/jkad088
pmc: PMC10234393
pii: 7141353