Northern Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis caurina) Genome: Divergence with the Barred Owl (Strix varia) and Characterization of Light-Associated Genes. (23rd August 2017) - Hanna, Zachary R.
Abstract: We report here the assembly of a northern spotted owl ( Strix occidentalis caurina ) genome. We generated Illumina paired-end sequence data at 90× coverage using nine libraries with insert lengths ranging from ∼250 to 9, 600 nt and read lengths from 100 to 375 nt. The genome assembly is comprised of 8, 108 scaffolds totaling 1.26 × 10 9 nt in length with an N50 length of 3.98 × 10 6 nt. We calculated the genome-wide fixation index ( F ST ) of S. o. caurina with the closely related barred owl ( Strix varia ) as 0.819. We examined 19 genes that encode proteins with light-dependent functions in our genome assembly as well as in that of the barn owl ( Tyto alba ). We present genomic evidence for loss of three of these in S. o. caurina and four in T. alba . We suggest that most light-associated gene functions have been maintained in owls and their loss has not proceeded to the same extent as in other dim-light-adapted vertebrates.