Anomalospiza imberbis isolate:Cuckoo-Finch-1a 21T00152 Genome sequencing and assembly

Anomalospiza imberbis cisticola (cuckoo finch) Sequence Assembly Release NotesThe cuckoo finch (family Viduidae) resides across sub-Saharan Africa and is an obligate brood parasite, laying its eggs in the nests of various cisticolid warblers (Cisticola spp. and Prinia spp.). Cuckoo finch high molecular weight (HMW) DNA isolated for whole genome sequencing is derived from a cuckoo finch nestling obtained from a Cisticola natalensis nest near Choma, Zambia (sample id Cuckoo-Finch-1a 21T00152) and provided by Dr. Gabriel Jamie, Cambridge University. HMW DNA was used as input to generate long-reads using circular consensus reads (CCS) base calling output from the Sequel II instrument (Pacific Biosciences) according to the manufacturer's protocols. Total CCS coverage used for assembly was 32x using a genome size estimate of 1.2Gb. All sequence reads were assembled with hifiasm using default parameter settings. HiC sequence data from a different female sample (JUN047_A1_2022) collected from a Cisticola juncidus nest (also near Choma, Zambia) were aligned to the contigs using chromap v0.2.3-r407, and the resulting alignments were used to scaffold the assembly using YAHS v1.2a.1, followed by manual curation. As per the vertebrate genomes project guidelines all chromosomes were numbered by size.This work was supported by NSF grants DBI 1754311, 1754397, 1754406, 1754643, 1940624.Anomalospiza imberbis cisticola 1.0 Sequence and Assembly Credits:DNA source - Dr. Gabriel Jamie, Cambridge University.Genome Sequence - Hudson Alpha Institute, Huntsville, AL.Sequence and Assembly - University of Missouri, Columbia, MO.Citation upon use of this assembly in a manuscript:It is requested that users of this Anomalospiza imberbis cisticola 1.0 sequence assembly acknowledge the Brood Parasitic Bird Genomes Consortium in any publications that result from use of this sequence assembly prior to the publication of this resource. Any publications that propose to generate whole genome analyses using this resource should contact Dr. Michael Sorenson ([e-mail]) or Dr. Chris Balakrishnan ([e-mail]) for the use of pre-publication data in accord with the Ft. Lauderdale and Toronto genomic data use agreements.