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Writer's picture: Bill BallardBill Ballard

The New Guinea Singing Dog (NGSD) is an ancient lineage of dogs that have been found in the New Guinea Highlands. Once considered a species in its own right (Canis hallistromi) it is now thought to be closely related to Australian dingoes and therefore likely cousins to modern dog breeds. These dogs are named for their distinct song or howl which is quite unique.

Melody, the New Guinea Singing Dog whose genome assembly is being released. Photo by Bill Ballard (University of Melbourne), edits by Arran Morton.

Today the University of Melbourne, Australia and Georgia Institute of Technology, USA in collaboration with DNA Zoo release a chromosome-length genome assembly of a NGSD female. HiFi sequencing was completed at the University of Delaware, and the reads were assembled using HiFiasm by Ben Rosen (USDA). Hi-C data was generated at Baylor College of Medicine by the DNA Zoo team.

We hope this assembly will enable us to answer a number of basic scientific questions including the relationships between Grey wolves, NGSDs, dingoes and modern breed dogs. We also expect careful analyses to shed light on the movement of dogs in the South east Pacific. An intriguing basic question we wish to consider is the evolution of the dog bark.

The sample for the long read chromosome length assembly was provided by a female named Melody from the North Georgia Wildlife Park (that's her on the photo above!). We wish to thank Kathleen Parisi, who drew the blood, Melissa Burns, who is the Animal Care Director at North Georgia Wildlife Park and was assisting, and Ashleigh Thomas who is her keeper.


Check out the interactive chromosome-length contact map of Melody's blood cells below!


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The Cape dune mole-rat, Bathyergus suillus is the largest of the African mole-rats in the family Bathyergidae. It is a truly subterranean mammal that attains a body mass of up to 2 kg and uses its claws and extrabuccal teeth to excavate its burrow system.

Cape dune mole-rat, photo by Nigel Bennett (University of Pretoria)

It is a strictly solitary species with plural occupancy of burrows occurring during the breeding season and when the female has young. It is a seasonal breeder that cues its breeding to the rainfall of the southern hemisphere winter. The Cape dune mole-rat is endemic to South Africa being found in the coarse sands of the western and southern Cape of South Africa where is excavates it deep foraging tunnels in search of corms, tubers, bulbs as well as undermining aboveground vegetation.


Today we release the chromosome-length genome assembly for the Cape dune mole-rat (Bathyergus suillus) generated using a sample from a captive female animal from South Africa collected by Nigel Bennett at the University of Pretoria. Read about the exciting research on physiology and behavior of the African mole-rats on the Bennett lab website here. We also thank Wook Namkoong and Jenny Tung (Duke University, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology) for their help with sample shipment.


Check out the interactive contact map for the Hi-C data remapped to the final genome (2n=56) assembly below, and read more about African mole-rats in this book by Chris G. Faulkes and Nigel C. Bennett:

Bennett, N.C and Faulkes, C.G. Ecology and Eusociality of African mole-rats. Cambridge University press. 273pp.

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Corey Kirkland, Marta Farré


Waterbuck (Kobus ellipsiprymnus) are a species of antelope distributed across central and southern Africa. The name waterbuck derives from their greater dependence on water compared to other antelopes. They are currently classified into two different subspecies, the common (K. e. ellipsiprymnus) and the defassa (K. e. defassa), with striking variation in rump colouration and chromosome number between subspecies. The common waterbuck has a white elliptical ring around its rump and a variable karyotype between 2n = 50 and 2n = 52, whilst the defassa has a completely white rump and a karyotype of either 2n = 53 or 2n = 54 (Kingswood et al. 1998). Differences in chromosome numbers are due to the Robertsonian fusion of chromosomes 6 and 18 and/or chromosomes 7 and 11. Whilst the two subspecies share predominantly different ranges across the African continent, genetic (Lorenzen et al. 2006) and genomic (Wang et al. 2022) studies have found both genetic differentiation between the subspecies but also hybridisation in zones where the two subspecies range overlap.

Waterbuck by Pieter van Noorden via Unsplash

The species is currently listed as Least Concern by the IUCN, with the defassa subspecies listed as Near Threatened. Population numbers have declined across the species range and in some areas have been lost completely. The main threats to the species include habitat loss and hunting, with the majority of the species now residing in protected areas.


Today we share the chromosome-length genome assembly of the defassa waterbuck, created using a combination of PacBio HiFi and Hi-C sequencing. PacBio HiFi sequencing was carried out at Edinburgh Genomics (UK) using DNA extracted from a captive-born female waterbuck fibroblast cell line established by Marta Farré’s research group at the University of Kent (UK). The animal was born at Howletts Wild Animal Park (Aspinall Foundation, UK) and the sample was kindly donated by Tony King (Conservation and Reintroduction Coordinator). PacBio HiFi reads were assembled using HiFiasm at the University of Kent.


The followup Hi-C scaffolding was done by DNA Zoo using data from a female common waterbuck sample obtained from SeaWorld (2n=52). Hi-C data from the original defassa waterbuck was used to help resolve, together with cell line karyotyping results, the assembly karyotype to match the defassa subspecies (2n=54). Another waterbuck from SeaWorld (2n=51) was included in the analyses to help explore the polymorphic waterbuck chromosomes.


Check out the interactive contact maps highlighting the plastic waterbuck karyotype below, and visit the assembly page for more details on the samples and the assembly!


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