Building de novo reference genome assemblies of complex eukaryotic microorganisms from single nuclei

The advent of novel sequencing techniques has unraveled a tremendous diversity on Earth. Genomic data allow us to understand ecology and function of organisms that we would not otherwise know existed. However, major methodological challenges remain, in particular for multicellular organisms with large genomes. Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are important plant symbionts with cryptic and complex multicellular life cycles, thus representing a suitable model system for method development. Here, we report a novel method for large scale, unbiased nuclear sorting, sequencing, and de novo assembling of AM fungal genomes. After comparative analyses of three assembly workflows we discuss how sequence data from single nuclei can best be used for different downstream analyses such as phylogenomics and comparative genomics of single nuclei. Based on analysis of completeness, we conclude that comprehensive de novo genome assemblies can be produced from six to seven nuclei. The method is highly applicable for a broad range of taxa, and will greatly improve our ability to study multicellular eukaryotes with complex life cycles.