A Chromosome-Length Assembly of the Hawaiian Monk Seal (Neomonachus schauinslandi): A History of "Genetic Purging" and Genomic Stability.

ABSTRACT: The Hawaiian monk seal (HMS) is the single extant species of tropical earless seals of the genus Neomonachus. The species survived a severe bottleneck in the late 19th century and experienced subsequent population declines until becoming the subject of a NOAA-led species recovery effort beginning in 1976 when the population was fewer than 1000 animals. Like other recovering species, the Hawaiian monk seal has been reported to have reduced genetic heterogeneity due to the bottleneck and subsequent inbreeding. Here, we report a chromosomal reference assembly for a male animal produced using a variety of methods. The final assembly consisted of 16 autosomes, an X, and portions of the Y chromosomes. We compared variants in this animal to other HMS and to a frequently sequenced human sam

SUBMITTER: Mohr DW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9323584 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature