Zebra Finch (Taeniopygia guttata) sequencing

Developmentally programmed genome rearrangements are rare in vertebrates but have been reported in scattered lineages including the bandicoot, hagfish, lamprey, and zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata). In the finch, a well-studied animal model for neuroendocrinology and vocal learning, one such programmed genome rearrangement involves a Germline-Restricted Chromosome, or GRC, which is found in germlines of both sexes but eliminated from mature sperm. Transmitted only through the oocyte, it displays uniparental female-driven inheritance, and early in embryonic development it is apparently eliminated from all somatic tissue in both sexes. The GRC comprises the longest finch chromosome at over 120 million basepairs and previously, the only known GRC-derived sequence was repetitive and non-coding. Here we include sequencing of somatic and germline tissue used to identify GRC sequences.