2024/09/13 by Marcel Nebenführ, David Prochotta, Alexander Ben Hamadou +5 · 1 voice
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Agricultural and Biological Sciences · #Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies #Chromosomal and Genetic Variations #RNA and protein synthesis mechanisms
paper · pdf · doi:10.46471/gigabyte.134
openalex publication_date 2024/09/13 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
The time required for genome sequencing and de novo assembly depends on the interaction between laboratory work, sequencing capacity, and the bioinformatics workflow, often constrained by external sequencing services. Bringing together academic biodiversity institutes and a medical diagnostics company with extensive sequencing capabilities, we aimed at generating a high-quality mammalian de novo genome in minimal time. We present the first chromosome-level genome assembly of the Whippet, using PacBio long-read high-fidelity sequencing and reference-guided scaffolding. The final assembly has a contig N50 of 55 Mbp and a scaffold N50 of 65.7 Mbp. The total assembly length is 2.47 Gbp, of which 2.43 Gpb were scaffolded into 39 chromosome-length scaffolds. Annotation using mammalian genomes and transcriptome data yielded 28,383 transcripts, 90.9% complete BUSCO genes, and identified 36.5% repeat content. Sequencing, assembling, and scaffolding the chromosome-level genome of the Whippet took less than a week, adding another high-quality reference genome to the available sequences of domestic dog breeds.