A Chromosomal-scale Reference Genome of the Kelp Grouper Epinephelus moara

The kelp grouper, Epinephelus moara, is a carnivorous coral reef fish widely distributing in the Indo-Pacific Oceans. Compared to other grouper species, E. moara is featured for its wide tolerance to environmental stresses, such as temperature and salinity. In addition, it is popularly used as a breeding species for hybrid grouper production. Here, we report the de novo sequencing and assembly of E. moara genome using a combination of Illumina pair-ended, PacBio and Hi-C technologies. We generated a 1.08 Gb genome assembly with a scaffold N50 of 44.93 Mb and contig N50 of 2.22 Mb. The scaffolds and contigs were clustered and oriented into 24 chromosomes, and 24,135 protein-coding genes were predicted, among which 96.8% were annotated. More than 95.6% of the conserved complete genes were successfully retrieved by BUSCO analysis. Comparative genomic analyses showed that some expanded gene families in the E. moara genome were significantly enriched in innate immune pathways. The E. moara genome provides a valuable resource for genetic improvement and genomic breeding of groupers, as well as evolutionary and comparative study with other grouper species.