Chromosome-level genome assemblies of the malaria vectors Anopheles coluzzii and Anopheles arabiensis. Issue 3 (15th March 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zamyatin, Anton; Avdeyev, Pavel; Liang, Jiangtao; Sharma, Atashi; Chen, Chujia; Lukyanchikova, Varvara; Alexeev, Nikita; Tu, Zhijian; Alekseyev, Max A; Sharakhov, Igor V
• Is Part Of: GigaScience. Volume 10:Issue 3(2021)
• Publication Date: 2021-03-15
• Subjects: Anopheles arabiensis -- Anopheles coluzzii -- malaria mosquito -- genome assembly -- Oxford nanopore sequencing -- Hi-C chromosome conformation capture; Information storage and retrieval systems -- Research -- Periodicals; Biology -- Research -- Periodicals; Medical sciences -- Research -- Periodicals; Database management -- Periodicals; 570.285
• DOI: 10.1093/gigascience/giab017
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2047-217X

Abstract

Abstract: Background: Anopheles coluzzii and Anopheles arabiensis belong to the Anopheles gambiae complex and are among the major malaria vectors in sub-Saharan Africa. However, chromosome-level reference genome assemblies are still lacking for these medically important mosquito species. Findings: In this study, we produced de novo chromosome-level genome assemblies for A. coluzzii and A. arabiensis using the long-read Oxford Nanopore sequencing technology and the Hi-C scaffolding approach. We obtained 273.4 and 256.8 Mb of the total assemblies for A. coluzzii and A. arabiensis, respectively. Each assembly consists of 3 chromosome-scale scaffolds (X, 2, 3), complete mitochondrion, and unordered contigs identified as autosomal pericentromeric DNA, X pericentromeric DNA, and Y sequences. Comparison of these assemblies with the existing assemblies for these species demonstrated that we obtained improved reference-quality genomes. The new assemblies allowed us to identify genomic coordinates for the breakpoint regions of fixed and polymorphic chromosomal inversions in A. coluzzii and A. arabiensis . Conclusion: The new chromosome-level assemblies will facilitate functional and population genomic studies in A. coluzzii and A. arabiensis . The presented assembly pipeline will accelerate progress toward creating high-quality genome references for other disease vectors.