A new chromosome-assigned Mongolian gerbil genome allows characterization of complete centromeres and a fully heterochromatic chromosome.

ABSTRACT: Chromosome-scale genome assemblies based on ultra-long read sequencing technologies are able to illuminate previously intractable aspects of genome biology such as fine-scale centromere structure and large-scale variation in genome features such as heterochromatin, GC content, recombination rate, and gene content. We present here a new chromosome-scale genome of the Mongolian gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus) which includes the complete sequence of all centromeres. Gerbils are thus the one of the first vertebrates to have their centromeres completely sequenced. Gerbil centromeres are composed of four different repeats of length 6pb, 37 bp, 127 bp, or 1747bp which occur in simple alternating arrays and span 1-6Mb. Gerbil genomes have both an extensive set of GC-rich genes and chromosomes strik

SUBMITTER: Brekke TD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10210625 | biostudies-literature | 2023 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature