Draft whole genome sequence of Okinawa Rail

The Okinawa rail (Gallirallus okinawae) is a Japanese domestic endangered bird which ranges in Okinawa Island. It is called the Yanbaru kuina ("Yanbaru rail"). Its habitat is restricted in the northern part of Okinawa Island (Yanbaru area). It is a medium-sized and almost flightless rail with short wings. Its number thought to be declined by the loss of its forest habitat and predation. Since some of them are killed by vehicles, National Institute for Environmental Studies Japan (NIES) stored their bodies die in an accident. We have sequenced their DNA isolated from muscle tissue and cultured cell from epidermal cell of skin. We also determined its number of chromosome observed by somatic division of cultured cells. It was 78 in diploid genome.