A Highly Contiguous Reference Genome for Northern Bobwhite (Colinus virginianus)

Area of Science:

• Avian genomics
• Evolutionary biology
• Wildlife genetics

Background:

• Northern bobwhites (Colinus virginianus) exhibit significant phenotypic diversity.
• Genomic research is lacking for understanding bobwhite evolutionary diversity.
• Existing bobwhite genome drafts have limitations in contiguity and completeness.

Purpose of the Study:

• To generate a new, highly contiguous genome assembly for Northern bobwhites.
• To provide a foundational resource for evolutionary and functional genomic studies in this species.

Main Methods:

• A de novo genome assembly was performed using tissue from a wild female Northern bobwhite.
• The assembly was scaffolded using Dovetail Chicago and HiC libraries with the HiRise pipeline.
• Quality assessment included scaffold N50, L90, and BUSCO completeness scores.

Main Results:

• An 866.8 Mb genome assembly was produced with 1,512 scaffolds.
• The assembly achieved a scaffold N50 of 66.8 Mb and scaffold L90 of 17.
• BUSCO completeness score reached 90.8%, representing 96% of the non-repetitive genome.

Conclusions:

• The new bobwhite genome assembly significantly improves contiguity and length over previous drafts.
• This high-quality genome provides a crucial tool for investigating the genetic basis of phenotypic diversity.
• Facilitates future research in evolutionary and functional genomics of Northern bobwhites.