Chromosome-level genome of the muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus).

The muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus) is a semi-aquatic rodent species with ecological, economic, and medicinal importance. Here we present an improved genome assembly, which is the first high-quality chromosome-level genome of the muskrat with high completeness and contiguity assembled using stLFR, BGISEQ, and Hi-C sequencing technologies. The genome size of the final assembly was 2.63 Gb with 27 pseudochromosomes. The length of scaffold N50 reached 80.25 Mb with a BUSCO score of 91.3%. We identified a 66.98 Mb X chromosome and a 1.14 Mb Y-linked genome region, and these sex-linked regions were validated by resequencing 32 extra male individuals. We predicted 19,396 protein-coding genes, among which 19,395 (99.99%) were functionally annotated. The expanded gene families in the muskrat genome were found to be enriched in several organic synthesis- and metabolism-related Gene Ontology terms, suggesting the likely genomic basis for the production and secretion of musk. This chromosome-level genome represents a valuable resource for improving our understanding of muskrat ecology and musk secretion. © The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution.

Citation

Haimeng Li, Minhui Shi, Qing Wang, Tian Xia, Sunil Kumar Sahu, Yu Zhang, Jiangang Wang, Tianfeng Li, Yue Ma, Tianlu Liu, Huan Liu, Tianming Lan, Suying Bai. Chromosome-level genome of the muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus). Genome biology and evolution. 2022 Sep 16

PMID: 36108314

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