X Chromosome Evolution Phodopus Dwarf Hamster Genome

The Phodopus dwarf hamster X chromosome has an expanded X chromosome arm which has suppressed recombination. In order to test predictions about the evolution of sequence, structure, and gene function on X chromosome arms experiencing distinct patterns of recombination, we generated a high-quality dwarf hamster genome assembly for Phodopus sungorus and pseudoassemblies for P. campbelli and P. roborovskii. We also generated reference transcriptome data for ten tissues, which were used in conjunction with comparative and ab initio gene predictions to annotate the genome. Finally, we examined structural variants and chromatin structure with HiC and Nanopore long-read data.