AUTHOR=Li Ronghua , Zhang Weijia , Lu Junkai , Zhang Zhouyi , Mu Changkao , Song Weiwei , Migaud Herve , Wang Chunlin , Bekaert Michaël 

TITLE=The Whole-Genome Sequencing and Hybrid Assembly of Mytilus coruscus

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Genetics

VOLUME=11

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/genetics/articles/10.3389/fgene.2020.00440

DOI=10.3389/fgene.2020.00440

ISSN=1664-8021

ABSTRACT=<p>The hard-shelled mussel (<italic>Mytilus coruscus</italic>) is an economically important shellfish that has been cultivated for the last decade. Due to over-exploitation, most mussel stocks have dramatically declined. Efforts to study this species' natural distribution, genetics, breeding, and cultivation have been hindered by the lack of a high-quality reference genome. To address this, we produced a hybrid high-quality reference genome of <italic>M. coruscus</italic> using a long-read platform to assemble the genome and short-read, high-quality technology to accurately correct for sequence errors. The genome was assembled into 10,484 scaffolds, a total length of 1.90 Gb, and a scaffold N50 of 898 kb. <italic>Ab initio</italic> annotation of the <italic>M. coruscus</italic> genome assembly identified a total of 42,684 genes. This accurate reference genome of <italic>M. coruscus</italic> provides an essential resource with the advantage of enabling the genome-scale selective breeding of <italic>M. coruscus</italic>. More importantly, it will also help in deciphering the speciation and local adaptation of the <italic>Mytilus</italic> species.</p>