Frontiers in Genetics (Nov 2020)

Draft Genome of the European Mouflon (Ovis orientalis musimon)

  • Rui Su,
  • Rui Su,
  • Rui Su,
  • Rui Su,
  • Rui Su,
  • Xian Qiao,
  • Yun Gao,
  • Xiaokai Li,
  • Wei Jiang,
  • Wei Chen,
  • Wei Chen,
  • Yixing Fan,
  • Bingwu Zheng,
  • Yanjun Zhang,
  • Yanjun Zhang,
  • Yanjun Zhang,
  • Yanjun Zhang,
  • Zhihong Liu,
  • Zhihong Liu,
  • Zhihong Liu,
  • Zhihong Liu,
  • Ruijun Wang,
  • Ruijun Wang,
  • Ruijun Wang,
  • Ruijun Wang,
  • Zhiying Wang,
  • Zhiying Wang,
  • Zhiying Wang,
  • Zhiying Wang,
  • Zhixin Wang,
  • Zhixin Wang,
  • Zhixin Wang,
  • Zhixin Wang,
  • Wenting Wan,
  • Yang Dong,
  • Yang Dong,
  • Jinquan Li,
  • Jinquan Li,
  • Jinquan Li,
  • Jinquan Li

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2020.533611
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11

Abstract

Read online

Mouflon (Ovis orientalis) with its huge and beautiful horns is considered as one of the ancestors of domesticated sheep. The European mouflon (Ovis orientalis musimon) is in the Asiatic mouflon (O. orientalis) clade. In order to provide novel genome information for mouflon, moreover promote genetic analysis of genus Ovis both domestic and wild, we propose to sequence the mouflon genome. We assembled the highly heterozygous mouflon genome based on Illumina HiSeq platform using the next-generation sequencing technology. Finally, the draft genome we accessed approximately 2.69 Gb (42.15% GC), while N50 sizes of contig and scaffold are 110.1 kb and 10.4 Mb, respectively. The contiguity of this assembly is obviously better than earlier versions. Further analyses predicted 20,814 protein-coding genes in the mouflon genome and 12,390 shared gene families among bovine species. It is estimated that the divergence time between O. orientalis musimon and Ovis aries was 7.6 million years ago. The draft mouflon genome assembly will provide data support and theoretical basis for various investigations of the genus Ovis species in future.

Keywords