Chromosomal-level reference genome assembly of the North American wolverine ( Gulo gulo luscus): a resource for conservation genomics

• Published in: G3 Genes|Genomes|Genetics
• Main Authors: Lok, Si, Lau, Timothy N H, Trost, Brett, Tong, Amy H Y, Wintle, Richard F, Engstrom, Mark D, Stacy, Elise, Waits, Lisette P, Scrafford, Matthew, Scherer, Stephen W
• Other Authors: Andrews, B, Lau Family Endowment for Genome Science Development through the CGEn CanSeq150 Project, Genome Canada’s Disruptive Innovation in Genomics Program, The Centre for Applied Genomics (TCAG) using infrastructure funded by the Canada Foundation for Innovation and was operationally supported by Genome Canada through Ontario Genomics, Canada Foundation for Innovation, Government of Ontario, and The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) Foundation, W Garfield Weston Foundation, College of Natural Resources at the University of Idaho, Northbridge Chair in Paediatric Research, The Hospital for Sick Children and University of Toronto
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford University Press (OUP) 2022
• Subjects: Canada; Kugluktuk; Nunavut; Gulo gulo
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/g3journal/jkac138; https://academic.oup.com/g3journal/advance-article-pdf/doi/10.1093/g3journal/jkac138/44926297/jkac138.pdf; https://academic.oup.com/g3journal/article-pdf/12/8/jkac138/45183672/jkac138.pdf

Abstract We report a chromosomal-level genome assembly of a male North American wolverine (Gulo gulo luscus) from the Kugluktuk region of Nunavut, Canada. The genome was assembled directly from long-reads, comprising: 758 contigs with a contig N50 of 36.6 Mb; contig L50 of 20; base count of 2.39 Gb; and a near complete representation (99.98%) of the BUSCO 5.2.2 set of 9,226 genes. A presumptive chromosomal-level assembly was generated by scaffolding against two chromosomal-level Mustelidae reference genomes, the ermine and the Eurasian river otter, to derive a final scaffold N50 of 144.0 Mb and a scaffold L50 of 7. We annotated a comprehensive set of genes that have been associated with models of aggressive behavior, a trait which the wolverine is purported to have in the popular literature. To support an integrated, genomics-based wildlife management strategy at a time of environmental disruption from climate change, we annotated the principal genes of the innate immune system to provide a resource to study the wolverine’s susceptibility to new infectious and parasitic diseases. As a resource, we annotated genes involved in the modality of infection by the coronaviruses, an important class of viral pathogens of growing concern as shown by the recent spillover infections by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 to naïve wildlife. Tabulation of heterozygous single nucleotide variants in our specimen revealed a heterozygosity level of 0.065%, indicating a relatively diverse genetic pool that would serve as a baseline for the genomics-based conservation of the wolverine, a rare cold-adapted carnivore now under threat.