Cervus nippon Genome sequencing and assembly. Cervus nippon

Sika deer (Cervus nippon) serves as an important economic and medicinal animal model for developmental, regeneration and evolutionary studies. Here we report a high quality draft genome of C. Nippon based 10×genomics and bionano data using an approach that combined linkage-reads sequencing and optical mapping. We observed more transposon elements in the intron regions of sika deer than the other two Cervidae species to contribute to intron length increasing. We identified several receptor genes and signal transduction pathways illuminated the molecular evolution history of deer-specific traits in antler development and regeneration by comparing expansion and contraction of the gene family with other species. The Sika deer genome should be useful as a rich biological resource for system evolution and morphological development of Cervus animals.