Rongsheng published genome assemblies of four manakins in Scientific Data
RongSheng, second year master student in the lab, has published her graduate research in Scientific Data entitled Draft genome assemblies of four manakins.
Manakins are a family of small suboscine passerine birds characterized by their elaborate courtship displays, non-monogamous mating system, and sexual dimorphism. This family has served as a good model for the study of sexual selection. In this study, we published genome assemblies of four manakin species, including Cryptopipo holochlora, Dixiphia pipra (also known as Pseudopipra pipra), Machaeropterus deliciosus and, generated by Single-tube Long Fragment Read (stLFR) technology. A gene SLC45A2 was found to be positively selected in M. deliciosus, which may explain its unique reddish-brown body plumage among other studied manakin species. We further identified 75 Mb of Z-linked sequences in manakins, containing 585 to 751 genes and an ~600 Kb pseudoautosomal region (PAR). One notable finding from these Z-linked sequences is that a possible Z-to-autosome/PAR reversal could have occurred in M. chrysopterus.
