Evaluating hybridization capture with RAD probes as a tool for museum genomics with historical bird specimens

Laboratory techniques for high-throughput sequencing have enhanced our ability to generate DNA sequence data from millions of natural history specimens collected prior to the molecular era, but remain poorly tested at shallower evolutionary time scales. Hybridization capture using restriction site-associated DNA probes (hyRAD) is a recently developed method for population genomics with museum specimens. The hyRAD method employs fragments produced in a restriction site-associated double digestion as the basis for probes that capture orthologous loci in samples of interest. While promising in that it does not require a reference genome, hyRAD has yet to be applied across study systems in independent laboratories. Here, we provide an independent assessment of the effectiveness of hyRAD on both fresh avian tissue and dried tissue from museum specimens up to 140 years old and investigate how variable quantities of input DNA affect sequencing, assembly, and population genetic inference. We pr...