De novo PacBio long-read assembled avian genomes correct and add to genes important in neuroscience and conservation research

Author(s): Korlach, Jonas and Gedman, Gregory and Cantin, Lindsey and Howard, Jason and Baybayan, Primo and Kingan, Sarah and Hall, Richard and Gu, Jenny and Chin, Chen-Shan and Robertson, Bruce and Digby, Andrew and Ryder, Oliver A. and Jarvis, Erich D.

To test the impact of high-quality genome assemblies on biological research, we applied PacBio long-read sequencing in conjunction with the new, diploid-aware FALCON-Unzip assembler to a number of bird species. These included: the zebra finch, for which a consortium-generated, Sanger-based reference exists, to determine how the FALCON-Unzip assembly would compare to the current best references available; Anna’s hummingbird genome, which had been assembled with short-read sequencing methods as part of the Avian Phylogenomics phase I initiative; and two critically endangered bird species (kakapo and ‘alala) of high importance for conservations efforts, whose genomes had not previously been sequenced and assembled.

Organization: PacBio
Year: 2017

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