De novo chromosome-length assembly of the mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) genome
Sydney Lamb ,
Adam M. Taylor ,
Tabitha A. Hughes ,
Brock R. McMillan ,
Randy T. Larsen ,
Ruqayya Khan ,
David Weisz ,
Olga Dudchenko ,
Erez Lieberman Aiden ,
Nathaniel B. Edelman ,
Paul B. Frandsen
Affiliations
Sydney Lamb
Department of Plant and Wildlife Sciences, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, USA, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Salt Lake City, UT 84114, USA
Adam M. Taylor
Department of Plant and Wildlife Sciences, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, USA
Tabitha A. Hughes
Department of Plant and Wildlife Sciences, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, USA
The Center for Genome Architecture, Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA, Center for Theoretical Biological Physics and Department of Computer Science, Rice University, Houston, TX 77030, USA
The Center for Genome Architecture, Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA, Center for Theoretical Biological Physics and Department of Computer Science, Rice University, Houston, TX 77030, USA, UWA School of Agriculture and Environment, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA, Shanghai Institute for Advanced Immunochemical Studies, ShanghaiTech, Pudong 201210, China
Department of Plant and Wildlife Sciences, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, USA, Data Science Lab, Office of the Chief Information Officer, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20002, USA
The mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) is an ungulate species that is distributed in a range from western Canada to central Mexico. Mule deer are an essential source of food for many predators, are relatively abundant, and commonly make broad migration movements. A clearer understanding of the mule deer genome can improve our knowledge of its population genetics, movements, and demographic history, aiding in conservation efforts. Their large population size, continuous distribution, and diversity of habitat make mule deer excellent candidates for population genomics studies; however, few genomic resources are currently available for this species. Here, we sequence and assemble the mule deer genome into a highly contiguous chromosome-length assembly for use in future research using long-read sequencing and Hi-C technologies. We also provide a genome annotation and compare demographic histories of the mule deer and white-tailed deer using the pairwise sequentially Markovian coalescent model. We expect this assembly to be a valuable resource in the continued study and conservation of mule deer.
