Genomic data for the North American water vole (Microtus richardsoni)

Voles of the genus <i>Microtus</i> are important research organisms, yet genomic resources in the genus are lacking. Providing such resources would benefit future studies of immunology, phylogeography, cryptic diversity, and more. We sequenced and assembled nuclear genomes from two subspecies of water vole (<i>Microtus richardsoni</i>) and from the montane vole (<i>Microtus montanus</i>). <br>The North American water vole (<i>M. richardsoni</i>) is adapted to a semi-aquatic lifestyle, relying on alpine and sub-alpine streams for creating burrows and escaping predators. The present study provides two nuclear and one mitochondrial genome assembly for <i>M. richardsoni</i>. The nuclear genomes were sequenced with Illumina and 10X Chromium plus Illumina sequencing. Sequencing of <i>M. r. arvicoloides</i> produced over 800 million reads and 47x coverage. The final genome assembly consisted of ~32,000 scaffolds with an N50 of 2.3 Mb, 1.3% missing data (N's), and a BUSCO score of 85.8%. Sequencing of <i>M. r. macropus</i> produced over 600 million reads and 35x coverage. The final genome assembly consisted of ~1,600,000 scaffolds with an N50 of 16Kb, 0.06% missing data, and a BUSCO score of 54.5%. In addition to the nuclear assemblies, a mitochondrial genome assembly was also performed for <i>M. r. arvicoloides</i>.